Into a Dangerous Mind

Into A Dangerous Mind

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Tina Gerow

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INTO A DANGEROUS MIND

By Tina Gerow Triskelion Publishing www.triskelionpublishing.com

Published by Triskelion Publishing www.triskelionpublishing.com 15508 W. Bell Rd. #101, PMB #502, Surprise, AZ 85374 U.S.A. First e-published by Triskelion Publishing First e-publishing May 2005 ISBN 1-932866-85-X Copyright © Tina Gerow 2004 All rights reserved. Cover art by Triskelion Publishing PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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CHAPTER ONE

She hadn’t dropped a lobster tail down the front of her dress or puked escargot on her date yet. So far so good. Cassidy James stepped out onto a secluded terrace at the Top of the Rock Resort, taking a few minutes away while her date paid the bill. The empty ballroom behind her stood dark and silent, which left the terrace quiet and deserted, a welcome change from the lights and noise of the restaurant below. Cassidy cringed as the mortification of that long ago date assaulted her. But, she reminded herself, none of those things happened this evening. Tonight, she’d been graceful, cultured and elegant, and the date so far had been intimate and romantic…and the most boring few hours she’d ever spent. What the hell’s wrong with me? Trying to ignore that particular question, she breathed deep and let out a little sigh of pleasure. The scent of the desert filled the air, ripe with the monsoon rains she knew would sweep through later that evening. A light breeze toyed with the ends of her shoulder-length auburn curls as she looked out over the glorious Phoenix mountainside—red and ochre in the moonlight. Resting her forearms on the waist-high terrace railing, she glanced skyward at the gentle explosions of stars and wondered as she always did, why everyone didn’t live here. Lost in thought, she trembled slightly as Brian stepped close behind her, gently pinning her in. Turning in his arms she smelled his expensive cologne as he cupped the back of her neck and leaned into her ever so slowly for a kiss. She thought about pulling away, but as long as he wasn’t looking for a way to talk her into bed on their second date, she didn’t see the harm in a simple kiss. His lips brushed across hers gently before he dipped his tongue inside to taste her. Very sweet and pleasant, but nothing that could be mistaken for blood-boiling or passionate. Cassidy relaxed against him and into his touch, enjoying the sensations of being in a man’s arms…and wishing she felt more than she did. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, gooseflesh broke out all over her body and a hard ball of dread settled low in her stomach, making her feel nauseous. Before she could react to the signs her body sent her, Brian changed the intensity of the kiss and slammed her back hard against the railing, grinding his body against hers. He swallowed her gasp of surprise and outrage before he clamped a hand into her hair. His hands gripped and squeezed her everywhere as alarm bells developed a shrill clang inside her head. She struggled against him and tried futilely to push against the wall of his chest with both hands.

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This couldn’t be happening. Cassidy bit his lip until she tasted hot, metallic blood. “Brian! Stop it!” she said against his mouth. She pounded her fists into his chest and finally succeeded in breaking through to him enough to stop his hands from roaming over her. Even as she looked up into predator’s eyes, his rock hard erection pressed against her stomach and terror rose up in the back of her throat, tasting of bile. Her heart pounded painfully inside her chest as he crushed his mouth against hers again. She struggled as her internal instincts screamed for her to get away. Suddenly, an intense pain seared inside her head, and for a moment, she staggered against him. Fear and adrenaline flowed through her in a rush and she vowed to do everything she could to get away. She tried to pull back, but he tightened his hold on her face and pressed her harder into the railing—his mouth still fused forcefully to hers. She squirmed against him, clawing at his neck and arms. As she realized the hot flow of blood coursing from the furrows she’d scored down his arms did nothing to loosen his hold, tears welled up in her eyes. Her ears rang, and bright lights danced in front of her vision. No, she couldn’t black out. What would happen to her then? Cassidy slumped against him again, conserving her strength as panic swelled inside her. That primal self-defense urge to fight, to flee, to survive broke through her panic as a fresh surge of adrenaline gushed throughout her body. She elbowed Brian in his side, giving her room to stomp a spiked heel down hard onto his foot. Then she immediately drove her right knee into his groin. The white-hot pain inside her head stopped instantly. Brian’s hands flew away from her face to grasp at his injured crotch. As he collapsed on the ground in a heap, she stumbled away. Her hands covered her mouth in a stunned gesture, and she grabbed the railing to steady herself. Still dizzy and weak from the aftereffects of the pain, she took a deep breath and tried to make her legs move. Brian looked up at her. “You stupid bitch, you’ll pay for that!” Cassidy jumped. Brian’s lips didn’t move. No words came out of his mouth. But she’d heard his voice inside her head. What the hell is happening? Am I losing her mind? Brian’s hand snaked out and latched firmly around her left ankle, startling her out of her shock. She met his blazing eyes, and renewed pain seared inside her head. Still reacting to the overdose of adrenaline, she kicked Brian in the face and heard a satisfying crunch. Blood gushed from his nose and she bolted away, rushing toward the long flight of stone steps that hugged the side of the building

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and led down to the front of the resort. As quickly as her spiked heels allowed, she raced down the steps straining to hear any sounds of pursuit behind her. “Don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip!” she chanted until finally she reached the last stone step. She rounded the corner and rushed into the noisy crowd bustling around the front entrance. Thank God for all the people. I should’ve never gone somewhere so secluded with a first date! A young man in the khaki uniform of the resort sent her a concerned look. “Are you okay, Miss?” “I need a taxi—fast, please…” She pulled a handful of bills from her purse and thrust them at him. “Thank you, ma’am, that’s very generous.” He gestured with both hands to a line of waiting taxis. Tears of joy and relief stung her eyes as she bolted past him toward the taxi that drove up in front of them. She tore open the door and dove inside. She reached out to pull the door closed and came up short as she realized the man in the khaki uniform stood in the open doorway. He leaned down to look at her. “Are you sure you’re all right?” “Yes, I have to go,” she pleaded. “Too bad I’m too busy with the Reaper tonight to wipe the frown off of that pretty face, but I’m glad she isn’t leaving with him.” “The Reaper?” A look of shock traveled over the man’s face before a movement near the front entrance caught her attention. Brian rushed out of the restaurant with a handkerchief pressed to his gushing nose. “I have to go!” She pounded on the clear partition between the front and back seats. “Drive! Drive!” The cab darted forward, and she fell back into her seat. Scrambling up to perch on her knees, she watched nervously out the back window. She kept expecting to see another cab or even Brian’s car come hurtling down the street behind them. But only the sight of the dark desert on either side greeted her. She continued to watch until they pulled out onto the freeway. Then gave the driver her address and collapsed back limply against the seat, letting out a long sigh of relief. The adrenaline had run its course and left her feeling drained and hollow. Cassidy tried to string thoughts together, to make some sense out of the past half hour, but concentration eluded her. Unshed tears burned in the back of her throat, and her body began to shake

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with reaction. A chuckle came from the front seat. “Probably some love affair gone bad, or she caught him with his mistress.” Offended, Cassidy leaned forward to address the driver. “Excuse me?” The driver glanced back over his shoulder, a confused expression plain on his beefy face. “I didn’t say anything, ma’am.” He continued to glance at her warily in the rear view mirror. Doubts swirled in her already foggy brain. She needed to make sense of it all. If she could just bring everything into focus it would somehow make sense. Shaking her head, she reached again for the wisps of logic that floated just outside her grasp, trying to piece together what had happened, but they continued to elude her. A milder version of the harsh pain throbbed inside her head, sending repeated ice pick strikes of agony through her eyes and out the sides of her head. She reached up to massage her temples. Is this what it feels like to have a brain tumor? I can picture the headlines now! “Phoenix Symphony cellist dies of brain tumor in the back of a Yellow Cab. The single twenty-nine-year-old developed the tumor due to stress associated with an extremely bad second date.” A nervous laugh bubbled up inside her throat at the thought. Tremors began low in her stomach and spread up and out through her limbs until her entire body quaked with reaction. She leaned back into the seat, closing her eyes against the events of the evening. Her stomach roiled and she swallowed hard against the taste of bile which crept up the back of her throat. Pressing her fingers to her aching eyes, she prayed for the night to end. “And people wonder why I don’t date.” ***** Zachary Hatcher continued to vent his frustrations by bench-pressing increasingly heavy reps. He’d decided a workout would take his mind off waiting for the op to begin—always his least favorite part of the job. In the time his dossier assured him it would take the Reaper to get back to Cassidy James’ house, he could get in the mindset for the op. He snapped his towel to the floor in frustration. “Why the hell hasn’t Gerald called yet? And why hasn’t the Reaper made his move?” Zach laid the barbell on its cradle and sat up with a loud huff of breath. He wouldn’t break radio silence and possibly compromise Gerald’s cover just to get an update. They’d call when the Reaper left the restaurant with Cassidy James and not before. A cold slice of pizza might take his mind off the wait, but he decided on coffee and padded off

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barefoot toward the kitchen, surprised to find it so dark. Once again, he lost track of the time and forgot to turn lights on in other parts of the little house. Loud chatter throbbed suddenly inside his head. “Inconsiderate bastard who doesn’t know how to keep from broadcasting to everyone within range! “Christ almighty.” He brought his hands up instinctively to cover his ears. But as the noise throbbed inside his head, his hands did little to help. “Anyone that strong has used their gift long enough to know how to control it better than that!” He concentrated and filtered out everyone but the person—no, the woman, he corrected himself, who still filled his head with chatter. Not wanting to intrude on her privacy, he quickly closed his eyes, picturing small, colored building blocks with different letters of the alphabet on them erected in a loose wall around his mind. Mental shields just strong enough to filter out the worst of the onslaught, but loose enough to not cut him off from all outside perceptions. His mother taught him how to erect shields from a young age and had demonstrated by using his alphabet blocks. He’d pictured his every day shields in terms of his childhood toys ever since. He weaved through the sea of boxes stacked around his living room. No one around the neighborhood possessed this much power; he would’ve sensed it earlier. No one remotely open enough to recognize him as another with the gift lived within hundreds of miles. But then again, he’d only moved in yesterday, and this presence may have been out of town. Whoever she was—she needed to learn to be more considerate. While fumbling for the kitchen light he stubbed his little toe on the edge of the counter. “Holy Christ!” he yelped as he cradled his injured toe in the dark. “It’s her fault. Damn woman, chattering on incessantly!” He found the switch and light flooded the crowded kitchen. Still favoring his injured toe, he wound his way through the stacks of boxes and furniture to the only item he’d babied as much during the move as his gun—his automatic coffee maker. It held an honored place within the household, and he’d cleaned the kitchen counter first to make a place for it. He reverently pulled out the basket, added the coffee and filter, then pushed the power button and waited for the lifeblood—caffeine, to fall into the pot. He decided that a watched coffee pot wouldn’t perk faster, but would just serve to darken his already black mood. Clutter from the move claimed every inch of available space, so he wandered out to the living room, opened the front door and took a seat on the porch swing he inherited from the previous tenants.

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He sighed and began the gentle to and fro motion of the swing. Hours of tension and stress drained from his body like water from a broken cup. He breathed in deeply, inhaling the earthy smell of rain not yet fallen. A gentle breeze played against his face and bare chest and an eerie glow cast from the full moon bathed everything visible in a surreal luster. Zach sensed her before he saw the cab turn the corner. The woman who broadcast into his head appeared to be his new neighbor. The cab stopped and she got out alone, which explained why Gerald had never called. They were tailing the Reaper, not Cassidy James. Sexy and tall with nice curves in all the right places, her legs seemed to go on forever. Why didn’t I sense her when I looked over the neighborhood? She possessed a powerful gift. Even now, he blocked her out to ensure he didn’t intrude on her personal thoughts as she carelessly broadcast them to anyone within range. The cab pulled away, and she hurried up her driveway. Just as she reached the door, she dropped to the ground like she’d been shot, clutching her head. Without conscious thought, Zach bolted from the swing and raced across the street in nothing but his favorite pair of jeans. The sharp edges of the desert rock from her yard bit into his bare feet, but he ignored the sharp stings while he rushed to her side. He dropped down beside her and tried to roll her over. Curled tightly into a fetal position, her eyes screwed shut, she moaned in pain, sounding like a wounded animal. Concentrating, he dropped his shields just enough to determine the problem. He reached out tentatively with that part of his mind which governed his gift, and touched her psyche with his. Immediately, he sensed an intruder, a psychic presence causing pain, discomfort and a kind of mental rape, no less real than the physical kind. Taking a deep breath, he clamped down on his own anger at anyone misusing their gift in that fashion. He would be no good to her if he frightened her further or entered her mind without her consent. “Are you okay?” Zach shook her enough to get her attention. He leaned down, straining to hear her whispered response. “Please, help me.” “Open your mind,” he commanded and reached out gently so as not to cause further pain or fear. Zach zeroed in on the intruder and in one burst of concentrated effort flung him out forcefully, raising mental shields of his own around her as she slipped from consciousness. *****

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Cassidy awoke to the comforting feel of strong arms around her. She smelled an amazingly sexy combination of soap, aftershave and sweat. Not an expensive cologne like Brian’s, but a rugged, more masculine earthy scent. A sudden sensation of floating, seized her. This has got to be just another one of my knight-in-shining-armor dreams. I’ll have to let my subconscious out to play more often. Cassidy spent her entire life a tomboy. When she got older, all the men she knew put her into the ‘friend’ category because of her sarcastic humor, easy going attitude and penchant for a ponytail and jeans. She had grown used to being the friend rather than the seductress and was comfortable with that role. She found it difficult to picture herself as sexy anyway. Tonight’s date only proved again her taste in men and Murphy’s Law had a long standing association. No wonder her subconscious brought to life a man who could grace the front of a steamy romance novel. Strong arms cradled her, carrying her and she sank into the feeling, reveling in the uniquely feminine way it made her feel—petite and protected. She risked opening her eyes. Oh yeah, I’m definitely dreaming! He can’t be real. His face, all rugged angles and dark lines, the Marlboro man meets dark mystery crusader from Zorro, looked like an image ripped from a movie poster. His eyes were the color of deep cognac with a small circle of green just around the iris. A full-lipped mouth kept his face from being too harsh and sent erotic thoughts racing through her mind about how those lips would feel on hers. A hazy glow of moonlight surrounded him and she reached up to lazily trace the subtle dent in his chin. “Hmmmm, my subconscious just keeps getting better and better.” She closed her eyes and snuggled against his chest, enjoying the feeling of safety after the terror of the last few hours. “Since I’m having a mental breakdown with my brain tumor, I might as well enjoy it.” A loud sigh escaped her, her lips curving in a sappy smile. She sank into the soft sheets of her bed and felt the bed move when he sat down beside her. His hand left a trail of heat as he brushed it gently across her forehead before he leaned over her. “I know you aren’t feeling too well, and we can talk about that after you get some sleep. Right now, we need to turn your mind off so he can’t get back in. Do you have anything to help you sleep?” Cassidy tried to make sense of his words, but her mind remained stubbornly fuzzy. “My head hurts—on the inside. Isn’t that strange?” She opened her heavy eyelids with an effort and looked up into his concerned expression. “I like this dream.” Then on an impulse she only acted on in dreams, she fisted her hands in his hair, dragging his mouth to hers. She swallowed his gasp of shock, and enjoyed the way his body jerked against hers. It seemed she caught her dream man by surprise.

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Hot and intoxicating, he tasted just like he looked—dangerous and spicy. Immediately, small explosions shuddered through her already overtaxed system, and her breath came in labored gasps. Blood began to simmer and bubble just under her skin as he devoured her mouth in turn. His hands moved from caressing her face, to fisting in her hair. A primitive need built between them that sizzled in the air as both of their bodies melted into each other. A groan came from deep inside her throat, and she felt him jerk back into reality as if surfacing from a very deep lake. But when she thought he would pull back, he pulled her tight against him, dipping inside her mouth as if she were a delicacy he wanted to savor fully. Demanding she open for him. Cassidy threaded her fingers through his thick dark hair and met his tongue thrust for thrust. Heat coiled inside her stomach and flowed downward until a slow full ache of arousal began—an ache more intense than ever before. Zach slowed their kiss and then pulled back, looking reluctant to end it. He gently untangled his fingers from her hair and smoothed his hand over her cheek. She looked up into eyes that were a molten pool of deep gold, hazy around the edges and tried to pull him down to her again. But he moved quicker, gently grabbing her wrists to keep her hands from ensnaring him. He shook his head as if to clear it, then took a deep breath and let the air out slowly. “Your head will be a little sore for a few days still.” He took a few more deep even breaths. “You just lie here and relax. I’ll go and find something to help you sleep.” Cassidy closed her eyes again and let herself float. No real man ever made her feel like this— sexy, and exotic. Like a siren luring men to their destruction. As she waited for her system to stop buzzing, she could acknowledge, if only to herself, there might actually be a real live woman hidden under the tomboy of the past. Good thing he’s just a dream. He’s just the kind of man I would fall for and then get my heart crushed. A wave of nausea began low in her stomach followed by series of cold shivers. Just a perfect end to a perfect night. I can’t even have a fantasy about a sexy man without ruining it. “You should’ve told me you were freezing.” The man walked back in the room carrying some Tylenol PM and a glass of water. “And don’t worry—you won’t throw up, but the trauma will make you feel nauseous. Your body isn’t sure how to react to something like this.” He helped Cassidy into a sitting position and supported her while she dutifully swallowed the proffered medicine. “I can feel you in my head.” Her voice sounded groggy and slightly slurred. “But it just feels

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safe and warm, like you belong there.” She noted a quick look of shock that marred his almost perfect features before she closed her eyes and lay back against the bed. “Shhhh.” He tucked the fluffy down comforter around her. “Everything will be clearer in the morning.” Cassidy began to drift into sleep, but the thought of being alone and vulnerable scared her enough to stir. “Don’t leave me alone,” she whispered. “Even if you aren’t real, I don’t want to be alone.” “I’ll be right here when you wake up, sleep now.” She heard the words softly in her head while she drifted into blackness.

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CHAPTER TWO

Too early in the morning for normal visitors, the insistent buzz of his doorbell pulled Zach’s attention from the newspaper. Taking his Glock 9mm off the table next to him, he walked toward the door and looked through the peephole. He smiled at the image of a tall rangy man dressed in navy work shorts and a button-down shirt with an embroidered company logo on the pocket. A well-worn ball cap sporting the same logo sat low over unruly red hair. “Just a minute,” he called through the door. He placed the Glock into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back and then pulled open the front door. “Carl, from Cox Cable, here for your install.” Zach stepped back so the man could enter and then closed the door behind him. After turning the locks, he studied the man with an earnest expression. “Can I put HBO and high-speed internet on my expense account?” “Don’t push your luck.” Agent Carl Dixon grinned and slapped Zach on the back. “So, Dix—you’re looking pretty sweet in that cable guy outfit.” “Kiss my ass, Hatcher.” A scowl creased the freckles peppering Dix’s forehead. “Are you going to offer me some coffee and give me your report, or do I have to pull rank?” A smile curved the corners of his lips and he headed toward the kitchen, motioning his friend and boss to follow. He poured two cups of coffee, handing one to Dix. “I don’t know how you guys got the moving van here so fast, but the house is full of boxes and looks exactly like I just moved in. My cover is tight.” “Good.” Dix took a seat at the kitchen table and gestured for Zach to join him. “So what do you have?” He took a sip of coffee and a reverent sigh escaped his lips. “I haven’t had to do more than read your reports and sign your op approvals since you were a rookie.” “Cassidy James is under surveillance—I’ve got a team over there now posing as landscapers. She’s still asleep. I’ll interview her when she wakes up.” And I’ll keep my promise and be there when she does. He smiled as he remembered how right she felt inside his head during the impromptu kiss, and how difficult it had been to pull away. Dix nodded once. “Okay, now that I know your witness is secure, start at the beginning and bring me up to speed.” He leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Like I said, I usually don’t have to get down to the intimate details of your cases.” Zach slid a grey folder marked The Reaper across the table to Dix. “We’re starting to build up a

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body count here. Four women found dead in their homes—including Corrine Sanders.” Dix flinched, but then nodded for Zach to continue. “The coroner could find no cause of death, not a mark on any of them. He said their bodies just stopped functioning, but no physical cause. No hits on the tox screens, no internal bleeding, and no evidence to support sexual assault or even recent sexual activity.” Zach took a sip of his coffee, letting the nutty flavor roll over his tongue. “So, right up until they died, they were four healthy women. No witnesses—except you. But per procedure, we interviewed everyone, no matter how remotely associated with the victims. Dead end.” Dix stared into his coffee cup and then looked up at Zach with haunted eyes. “A friend’s sister is dead. I was her bodyguard, and I couldn’t protect her.” Dix took off his hat and wrung it in both hands. “I never thought I’d feel so helpless. It goes against the grain of everything I took this job for. She just started clutching her head and screaming about someone attacking her. I had to hold her and watch her die.” Zach let the silence flow over the room and then said softly, “Dix, there was nothing you could do. You need to stop reliving it. I’ll get him.” His friend pushed back from the chair and began to pace, slapping his hat against his thigh for emphasis. “Damn it, Zack, you don’t know how it feels. That asshole made it personal—he used me and Corrine just so he would get credit for his previous kills. And now, he’s slipped through our fingers!” Anger, frustration and hate flowed over Dix’s face until he finally wrestled his emotions under control and slumped into the chair and looked across the table at Zach. “Okay, finish telling me what the hell happened last night. How did you know who to target with the op?” “Because I’m the best damned profiler you’ve got.” “All your modesty aside.” Dix pulled his cap firmly over his unruly hair. “None of the evidence you’ve given me tells me why you suspected the guy from last night to be the Reaper. When you tell me to set up an op, I know from experience you’ve got the guy, and every single time you’ve been right. But I usually don’t have to drag the evidence out of you. So what gives?” Not sure how much to tell his boss, Zach leaned back in his chair, looked directly into Dix’s eyes and adopted the formal manner of a subordinate giving a report to his superior. “I took all available profile information and upon further review of the interview tapes, I narrowed the suspects down to one man—Brian August. Once I narrowed the suspects down, I analyzed the inconsistencies in his story which that could link him to all four women. He has several aliases, but no criminal record…yet.” “Could link him?” Dix asked softly.

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Tension hummed in the room until finally Dix sighed. “Zach, we’ve worked together for a while now, and you’re right—you’re the best profiler I’ve ever met. But,” he held up a finger for emphasis. “I need you to quit beating around the bush and tell me what evidence led you to pick August out of everyone interviewed. I may not be a profiler, but I know you didn’t have enough indicators to build a full profile.” Zach frowned and looked across the table measuring how much to tell his friend. Stick with the fact. “During the interview when asked if he knew the victims, August looked to the left which showed he made up his answer. As you know, if he looked to the right he would have been remembering information and thus telling the truth. And once I started looking into his stories…” “Stop right there.” Dix held up a hand to interrupt Zach’s speech. “I don’t need a lesson in Profiler 101. You played one of your hunches, didn’t you?” “Hunches are a part of every good profiler’s repertoire.” “Don’t give me that crap, Zach. I can tell when you’re bullshitting me.” Dix stood to pace around the small kitchen. “I’ve set up a full op here with the expectation we would be netting the killer. I know you’ve played hunches before, but they’ve always been backed up with actual hard facts.” He turned back to Zach. “I need you to be straight with me, it’s my ass on the line if I green-lighted an op that went bad without sufficient evidence.” Zach drained his coffee and set it aside. “Are you sure you want me to be straight with you, or do you just want me to give you enough facts so you feel comfortable?” Dix took off the baseball cap and ran his hands through his tousled red hair. “Yeah, give it to me straight.” He crossed his arms over his chest and waited. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly before speaking. “All right, we had absolutely no leads. We have a few of the police tapes where the guy identifying himself as the Reaper called and tried to take credit for some of our mysteriously dead women, but analysis shows five distinct voices, so he may have hired people to call for him. All of those were untraceable. Since the coroner couldn’t find any cause of death, he ruled all of them natural causes. When the Reaper called the press, he couldn’t even get them interested, so none of them kept any information on the callers either. Another dead end. “So I went back to the interviews. Several of the people had small inconsistencies with their stories, as people tend to have in these situations, so no help there. When I went to see the coroner, he was examining the last victim. I sensed psychic residue consistent with that left from a psychic attack, which would explain why the coroner found no physical evidence left on the victims.” He held up his hand anticipating Dix’s outburst. “You wanted it straight, so hear me out. I

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rewatched the interview tapes, and could tell from August’s answers he had enough psychic ability to sidestep the verbal traps the interviewers laid for him. August showed the only psychic potential, so I started checking into his background.” Ignoring Dix’s raised eyebrow, he reached for the file which lay between them and opened it to the third page. “He has several aliases and has moved around the country quite a bit. Twenty-six similarly unexplained cases are still open in states where he’s been. Both of his parents, Judi and Wayne Byrne, are deceased—unsolved murders. Interestingly enough, they were both well-known psychics who worked with the Chicago police on several missing persons cases.” Flipping a few more pages, he found the picture of August and slid the file across the table to Dix. “I put a team on him and dug into his recent activities. The local authorities received a note from him a few days ago stating that he had made a date for last night with his next victim. We looked into it, but he had made dates with four different women with reservations in four different locales. I had undercover agents inserted at each site. And since all four women live in this subdivision, that’s why I rented this house. I could be within easy access of any of the potential victim’s homes.” “What happened with Cassidy James last night?” Dix shook his head, and still looked skeptical, but at least he was listening. “Agent Gerald called me when the Reaper arrived at the Top of the Rock with Miss James. He was supposed to call me as soon as they left. I left the other teams in place in case this was just a diversion. We were worried one of the other women was the actual target. But Miss James got away and kicked the crap out of the Reaper in the process.” He leaned forward to drive home his point. “Last night when Cassidy James collapsed in her front yard, she was being psychically attacked. The man I ejected from her mind left the same psychic residue as the victim from the coroner’s office. Dix, he’s gotten cocky and changed his MO—he’s become more physical, but I know it’s Brian August.” He tapped the Reaper’s picture with his index finger. “Especially now that Miss James kicked the holy shit out of him, he’s probably pissed as hell and will start to become sloppy. Which is how we’ll catch him.” Zach continued to watch Dix, trying to gauge his mood without invading his privacy by using his psychic gifts to pry into his friend’s mind. “You know I would never endanger a case, Dix. As your friend as well as your profiler, I’m telling you, this is our guy. I’ll stake my reputation on it.” “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Zach, you know I don’t believe in any of this psychic shit—although I’ll admit I still can’t explain Corrine dying in my arms from no apparent cause. But I thought we agreed a long time ago to keep it out of your work. It has no place here. This kind of

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nonobjective hocus-pocus is going to put the case at risk!” Zach stood and matched Dix’s angry tone. “Damn it, Dix—you agreed, not me.” Zach jabbed a finger toward Dix for emphasis. “Having these gifts is part of who I am. You use your reflexes and your hunches, so why can’t I? I’ve used psychic skills on more cases than you really want to know about, and, as you just pointed out, I haven’t been wrong yet. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll admit your objectivity on this case could affect your judgment…” He trailed off, letting his words find their target. He knew he’d hit a nerve from the stricken look on Dix’s face. But damn it, Dix needed to let him do his job. He studied Zach for a long tense moment and then sighed. “Point taken. For both our sakes, I hope you know what the hell you’re doing.” He crossed to Zach’s refrigerator, pulled out two Bud Lights and passed one to Zach. “I know it’s early, but this case is a bitch. Here’s to supervisor’s prerogative.” He twisted off the top and held it up in a toast before taking a long pull. “So what’s your plan?” Zach took a drink and closed his eyes, letting his frustration flow away. He wouldn’t get much more of a concession than that. The FBI wasn’t very accepting of things that couldn’t be explained by what they considered cold hard facts. “First, I need to interview Cassidy James. Since she’s the one who got away, he’ll probably want her even more—especially after she sent him to the emergency room. Some of the neighbors may have seen me pick her up off the lawn last night and carry into her house, so I can play the concerned neighbor or even the new boyfriend if that will let me stay close enough to keep her safe.” Dix nodded and gestured for him to continue. “In the meantime, we find August.

Gerald lost him last night after he checked into the

emergency room. Mayo Clinic Hospital reported they treated him for a broken nose and bruised ribs. The nurse came back into his exam room to give him his checkout paperwork, and he’d disappeared. According to Gerald, he hasn’t returned home or gone to work. “He knows he’s being tailed. He’s got psychic powers, although not extremely strong ones judging from the psychic signature on the victims, which is what allowed Cassidy James to break away—she’s more powerful than him.” “Wait.” Dix’s beer bottle was poised half way to his lips. “Cassidy James has psychic powers too? Isn’t that just a little bit convenient?” “I know you don’t believe in any of this, but I think Brian August is preying on women who have psychic potential, but haven’t realized their talents yet. He’s attacking their minds knowing they

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can’t defend themselves from him on that plane. He must be getting off on draining their energy, because he’s not sexually assaulting them.” Warming to his topic, he punctuated his words by gesturing with the beer bottle. “When he attacked Cassidy James he got more than he bargained for. She’s more powerful than he expected and that’s what allowed her to break away. And, he didn’t even have the psychic strength to open her powers all the way.” Dix frowned. “So, he expected a firecracker and got C-four explosives? Serves the bastard right.” “But, that also means she’s going to have to know I’m undercover. I won’t be able to hide it from her.” Dix looked like he would object, but then finally nodded. “All right, but you brief her and keep a tight lid on her.” “I’ll take care of it.” Zach looked over at his friend. “Dix, August is going to keep looking for women with psychic potential, but the murders are going to become more physical since he didn’t get resolution to his anger with Miss James. I looked up some of the case files on his parents. They were both extremely powerful psychics. I’m guessing August is acting out from a lifetime of not living up to his parents’ great expectations when it comes to psychic abilities. I’ll bet money he’s going to fixate on Miss James because she just hit his Achilles heel—his lack in the psychic gifts department.” “Terrific, so what you’re telling me is she just managed to royally piss him off.” Dix drank deeply from his beer bottle and then set it on the counter. “Okay, Zack, I don’t know if I buy the whole psychic angle, but I know you, and I’d trust you with my life. I’m putting my ass on the line here, but since you’ve saved that same ass on more occasions than I care to count, I’m trusting you to save it again.” “You won’t regret this, Dix. I know it’s him.” “I hope you’re right.” He pointed toward Zach. “But by the time this thing is put to bed—I expect a file full of cold hard facts to pass up the chain.” Zach nodded. “Understood.” “I’d better get out there and move my van or it will look like you’ve had the longest cable install in history.” *****

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Zach marveled as he opened up yet another meticulously organized cabinet in Cassidy’s kitchen. “The woman alphabetized her spices. That’s just sick and wrong.” He pulled out a small, unopened tin canister of cinnamon for French toast. After the events of the previous evening, he knew from experience she’d be starving, since using psychic gifts tended to deplete the body’s energy faster than physical exertion. Especially since her body wasn’t used to the new powers yet. He hoped making her a decent breakfast would put her more at ease while he interviewed her. But that had proved difficult when he’d opened her refrigerator. All he found was a case of bottled water, a six-pack of Diet Pepsi, some long-neck Bud Lights and several containers of moldy, leftover Chinese food. Her cabinets were another mystery. Organized like a military galley as far as dishes and utensils were concerned, the only food in the cabinets appeared to be a box of strawberry pop tarts, a jar of creamy peanut butter and a jumbo bag of Skittles. He immediately called to have one of his agents deliver some decent food. How does this woman survive? She is definitely a puzzle. He dipped more bread into egg batter and dropped it into a hot skillet. He’d read over her FBI file, but it shed no light on the woman he met last night. Zach dropped some bacon and sausage into a second sizzling skillet and set the timer for the biscuits he’d just put into the lower oven. The file showed her as a twenty-nine-year-old cellist with the Phoenix Symphony who looked to be a model citizen. Cassidy Marie James never got so much as a traffic ticket. She attended Arizona State University on a full music scholarship and graduated with a very respectable three-point-eight GPA. Upon graduation, several lucrative offers from major symphonies and music organizations around the world had poured in, but she accepted the offer that would keep her close to home. The file held no listing of living relatives, marriage or children, just several references to publications which ran reviews of her performances or carried articles she authored about various music industry issues. She paid her taxes on time, donated her time and money to The Literacy Foundation, The Education of Fine Arts Association and Toys for Tots charities, and had voted in every major election since she’d turned eighteen. But he struggled to mesh the perfect file with the passionate woman who kissed him last night and sent his system into overload. He knew she thought him nothing but a dream, and she’d still been in shock, but he just wasn’t prepared for the kind of all out physical assault one simple kiss wreaked on his system.

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Adding eggs next to the bacon, his thoughts wandered to last night. He could still feel her insistent mouth on his and with that vivid memory, liquid pools of pure heat low in his stomach and groin throbbed insistently. “Snap out of it, Zach, she’s a witness.” Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it, he heaped French toast, bacon and eggs onto a serving platter decorated with a large saguaro cactus and two howling coyotes. He opened the top oven, placing the platter inside to keep warm. Pouring himself more coffee, he gave in to a large yawn. He didn’t get very much sleep the previous night on her overstuffed sofa. The black leather sectional might be more luxurious than his bed, but being close to her kept major portions of his anatomy alert throughout the night. “Down boy,” he admonished as the part of his anatomy in question began to stir in remembrance of the heated kiss. He quickly checked to ensure his shields were tight. Probably not a good impression if the first thing she heard when she awoke was him talking to his errant erection. Besides, not only did he have no business getting involved with a witness, but she also had the gift. “I’ll be damned if I’ll go through that again with another woman.” Having decided on a course of action, he smiled and began to hum to himself while pulling the biscuits out of the oven. He almost dropped the hot pan. A groan ripped from his throat as he felt a hot mouth close over his already painful erection. Whipping around, he scanned every inch of the small kitchen to make sure he was alone. He sat down the biscuits carefully, and braced his hands on the counter to keep from falling to the floor in a heap as the phantom mouth continued its work. Tight lips and a busy tongue teased his swollen tip, and invisible hands cupped and stroked him. He broke himself away from the sensations long enough to realize someone else’s psychic output affected him. “Must focus.” He reached out mental tendrils around him. He stopped short as he touched a familiar mind—Cassidy’s. “How the hell is she strong enough to tie me into her dreams?” he demanded of the empty room. Concentrating, he nudged her mentally, just enough to wake her and then pulled back. “Damn.” He tried to adjust his jeans into a comfortable position with a now throbbing erection. “Not only is she more powerful half opened than anyone I’ve ever met, but she’s damn good at fantasizing too.” He blew out a long breath. “Better get your shit together fast, Zach.”

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CHAPTER THREE

Cassidy stepped into her kitchen and immediately saw the man of her late night dreams arranging steaming biscuits on a platter. His perfectly muscled derriere brought her up short, and she pinched herself. Ouch! Yup, I’m definitely awake. She awoke with the insides of her skull sore and bruised and immediately recalled the highly erotic dream she thought she’d been having. It shocked her now to see him baking biscuits and humming in her kitchen. Maybe the last part was just a dream—she hoped. She could still feel him hard and eager inside her mouth. She shook her head to try and dislodge the sensation. He still wore the jeans from last night and added a comfortable looking t-shirt. Neither garment did anything to disguise the fact he was one of the most well built men she’d ever seen up close. He moved around her kitchen with an ease and grace that made her envious. She always imagined she looked like some slapstick comedienne bumbling around when she attempted to cook—which was almost never. The kitchen looked smaller somehow with him in it, as if the vaulted ceilings had been lowered a few feet. Add the broad shoulders and the well defined muscles of his arms, and her spacious kitchen began to look small and cozy. Cassidy studied the angles of his face and the sexy little dent in his chin she remembered tracing last night as he carried her. She looked up into amused eyes and jumped as she realized he stood watching her inspect him like a tasty dessert. “I…I’m sorry.” Heat crept up her neck and into her cheeks. “I’m not used to finding strange men in my kitchen.” He only smiled and placed a platter laden with eggs, sausage, bacon and French toast in the middle of the table. “So I gathered.” His amused gaze met hers.. “Would you like some breakfast?” He pulled out a chair for her and gestured for her to sit. “You must be starving.” It took Cassidy a minute to recover from the effect of the boyish grin. It transformed his face into something more approachable, but definitely just as masculine. Not to mention the great dimple off to the left side of his mouth—she controlled the urge to reach out and trace it with her fingertip. The entire situation felt very surreal, but she couldn’t think of any reason to refuse, so she sat as Zach set a mug of coffee in front of her. “Let’s start over.” She breathed deep and enjoyed the healing aroma of the coffee before looking up to meet his eyes. Attempting to gain some measure of control over the situation, she cleared her throat before she spoke. “I’m Cassidy James.” She held out her hand

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to shake. “And you are?” He finished chewing a mouthful of bacon, swallowed and then reached out to shake her hand. “Special Agent Zachary Hatcher, but please, call me Zach.” He took his badge and ID out of his back pocket and laid it on the table for her to inspect. “I just moved in across the street yesterday.” He chucked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the direction of his house. “I didn’t know that house was even up for sale.” She examined his ID while she spoke. His smiled. “Technically, no, but the FBI can be very persuasive.” She surprised herself by realizing she already knew he worked with the FBI. How do I know that? What the hell happened to me last night, some sort of an FBI sting I fell into? Maybe I do have a brain tumor. “What does the FBI need with a suburban house, Agent Hatcher, and what does that have to do with me?” Zach laid his hand gently on hers. “We’ll discuss the FBI operation in a minute. For what it’s worth, I highly doubt you have a brain tumor, and please, call me Zach. Agent Hatcher makes me sound about eighty and bald.” Her pulse scrambled when he touched her, and it took a minute for her system to level. She looked up into his concerned expression and realized she hadn’t said any of her concerns aloud. Then she gasped as she remembered something else from last night. Her hand came up to touch her lips and a blush bloomed rapidly over her face. Zach cleared his throat, then looked her in the eye. “Don’t worry about it, Miss James, you were in a state of shock when I found you. Not that I’m complaining about having a beautiful woman kiss me senseless in her bedroom.” He grinned around his coffee cup and she couldn’t help but smile in return. Cassidy sighed, she could definitely get used to a handsome man complimenting her over coffee every morning. Whoa, where the hell did that come from? One traumatic date and I’m marrying myself off to the closest FBI agent? I’ve got to get a grip. The events of last night still swirled around in her head like a clash between a nightmare and an erotic fantasy. She decided to start getting some answers. “Agent Hatcher. Zach,” she relented when he cocked his eyebrow at her. “How’d you know what I was thinking? How did you get inside my head?” She knew it sounded a little crazy out loud, but somehow she knew that’s what happened. She also sensed this man could be trusted. That alone would be worth some thought and reflection later. Cassidy knew herself to be a good judge of character, but this time, she didn’t guess—she knew. She

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picked up her coffee and sipped to give her hands something to do while she waited for an answer. Zach studied her for a moment. “Are you ready to talk about this? You may want to eat something first and then we can talk.” The reasonable tone in his voice grated on her nerves. “I can do both.” She hated the stubborn bite to her voice, and picked up her fork and stabbed a fat sausage to demonstrate her words. “Please,” she said softly. “I need to understand what’s going on, it’s very unsettling for me not to.” He looked at her a moment longer, nodded, took a drink of his coffee and wiped his hands on his napkin. “Okay, I can see you’re going to struggle with this a bit, so let me start at the beginning so you’ll have some framework for your understanding.” Cassidy nodded and continued to eat, waiting patiently while he gathered his thoughts. “There are people who have psychic gifts, just like any other human gift, such as being athletic or musically talented.” He gestured to her T-shirt, which cheerfully proclaimed ‘Musicians Duet Better’ and she nodded for him to continue. “Lots of people have some amount of small psychic talent which would manifest itself as hunches that proved true or those bad feelings people get before something happens to a relative or loved one.” He stopped and pierced her with his gaze, his golden-cognac eyes boring into her. “But more rarely, people have the potential for greater abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, psychic healing, empathy, remote viewing or a number of other gifts in varying degrees.” “Okay, but what does that have to do with me?” She pushed her plate away forcefully. “I don’t have any of those things. And assuming I even believed they exist outside of the Sci-fi channel, I don’t understand how they’re relevant to what happened to me last night.” Nodding, he continued. “Still more are born with the potential for these abilities, but for some reason the ‘door’, if you will, to that potential is closed. Sometimes something happens to open it, such as a traumatic experience, an accident, a conscious effort to enhance the ability or…,” he paused meaningfully and laid his hand over hers, “it can be opened by someone else with psychic abilities.” The knowledge of what happened seeped into her consciousness, but she pushed it brusquely aside. “Tell me.” She crossed her arms in an unconscious gesture of protection. “When you came stumbling across your front yard last night, it was because Brian August forcefully opened the door to your abilities. Among those with the gift—what he did to you is considered a very real kind of rape, and it leaves just as many emotional scars. And only because you were more powerful than he imagined, did he leave the job half done.”

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Her mouth hung open in shock as she digested everything he said, and she couldn’t seem to close it. Her internal alarms had been right—and she hadn’t listened. Brian, for all intents and purposes had mind raped her on a deserted terrace outside a high-class restaurant in the middle of Phoenix. Now Zach wanted her to believe she had some powerful mind gift? Laughter threatened to bubble up and spill out of her at the absurdity of it all. She could admit, if only to herself, she’d always believed in hunches, and she relied heavily on her internal alarm systems to keep her out of trouble. But the idea she had any of the gifts he described was both frightening and exciting. Zach continued. “When I found you in the front yard, he was trying from a distance, not really to finish the job, but to cause you pain.” He reached out and touched her cheek gently. “He awakened your ability, left you no way to know how to deal with it and continued to try to hurt you.” He took a slow breath trying to shed the anger that came into his voice. “So, once I had your permission, I thrust him out—which will hopefully leave him with a huge headache—and I put up psychic shields around you until the Tylenol PM kicked in and turned off your mind. Those psychic mind barriers, kept him from getting inside your mind again.” Cassidy studied him for a moment, letting the silence hang in the air around them. “For the sake of argument, let’s say I believe everything you’ve told me so far. How does the FBI fit into this? Not that I’m complaining about you saving me out there last night. But you suddenly becoming my neighbor right before I need someone with a rare psychic gift is a little far fetched, don’t you think?” Zach reached out for the coffee pot and refilled both their cups before answering. “You’re handling this much better than most people would. You’re an adapter, that’s good, you’ll need to be.” She brushed past the compliment. “What about my question?” Zach took a deep breath and let the air out in a whoosh. “You’re right. It’s not a coincidence I’m here. Four women have been murdered. All of them died as a result of psychic trauma—like the trauma you experienced last night. We’ve been following Brian August…” Cassidy cut him off with a sharp wave of her hand. “The man last night at the taxi stand said something about a Reaper, and I couldn’t make any sense of it…. Is that what the FBI is calling Brian? The Reaper?” Zach answered her calmly. “The Reaper is the FBI codename given to this case because the man who called in to take credit for the murders called himself the Reaper. But Agent Gerald, the man at the taxi stand last night, didn’t say anything about the Reaper to you. He thought it.” Cassidy’s mouth fell open again and she hastily closed it. Not only did my date kill four women

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and try to make me his fifth, but now I’m picking up people’s thoughts?! Cold pinpricks of fear marched up her spine at the thought of what could have happened last night. She swallowed hard. “So, if the FBI knew about Brian, why didn’t they stop me from going out with him last night?” “Well, we had a theory it was August, but no hard facts.” Cassidy leaned back in her chair, took a deep breath and let Zach fill her in on how they narrowed down the potential victims. When he finished, the cold prinpricks had become a flood of fear surging through her system. “So, he’s in FBI custody now?” Zach couldn’t quite meet her eyes as he answered. “No. After you got done with him, he went to the emergency room. We lost him there.” Suddenly she felt as if she were trying to breathe through thick plastic, she couldn’t pull enough air into her lungs as fear welled up heavy and thick in her chest. “He could still come after me, couldn’t he.” Zach only nodded. Cassidy rubbed her hands up and down her arms to chase away the bone deep chill. Apparently, I’m strong enough to get away from Brian. Zach, from what he says, is strong enough to protect me. But I’m not sure how secure that makes me feel. “You said emergency room—right?” At Zach’s nod, she continued. “Did I at least break the bastard’s nose?” Zach’s boisterous laugh echoed throughout the kitchen. “Here I’m worried that you’re going back into shock on me, and you want to know if you broke his nose. I think you and I will get along just fine, Cassidy James.” “Well?” she persisted. “Did I kick the holy crap out of him?” Zach’s eyes danced with amusement. “Oh yeah! A broken nose and bruised ribs.” “Good.” She let the female satisfaction of at least leaving him with some scars from the night too. Swallowing the last of her coffee, she looked up. “Okay, secret agent man, where do we go from here?” “First, we need to keep you safe. Probably the best way for me to do that would be to keep you under twenty-four by seven surveillance.” The blush crept up her neck and into her cheeks as the possibilities of repeating the kiss—and the erotic dream—from last night raced through her brain. She looked up into his smiling eyes. “Don’t make me send you to the emergency room too,” she warned. “Get out of my head.” Even his teasing makes me want to melt into a puddle of goo right here on the kitchen floor.

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Zach visibly tried to control his smile. “Anyway, I think I should pose as your boyfriend. That way no one will be suspicious if I stay close for a while.” Wow, talk about temptation on a silver platter. But Zach’s idea made sense. Having a gorgeous man watching her around the clock sent her imagination into overdrive. Zach interrupted her thoughts. “And here’s the hard part—you can’t tell anyone I’m FBI.” “But…” How the hell am I going to lie to Kathy? She’s my best friend. She’d never in all the years she’d known Kathy been able to successfully keep a secret from her, let alone outright lie. How the hell was she supposed to make Kathy believe she’d gone away for one weekend and suddenly rustled up a hunky and attentive neighbor after a string of relationship disasters that would put a soap opera to shame? “You’re just going to have to convince her.” Cassidy touched her hands to her temples. “I can feel you inside my head again.” She gasped as the full import of what that meant hit her. “You were able to hear everything I thought last night and—” she gasped and covered her mouth, her cheeks burning, “this morning, weren’t you?” Zach reached out and gently unclenched her crossed arms and held each of her hands in his. Cassidy looked up at him as he began to speak. “I believe in being honest since it doesn’t serve much purpose anyway with people who have our talent. Yes. I’ve tried to respect your privacy as much as possible, but I can hear your direct thoughts since you haven’t learned to shield yet.” She could feel the heat of the blush creeping up her cheeks again, but she breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t mention her dream. Maybe at least that truly was nothing more than a dream. “Wait, you’ve said shield a few times, what does it mean?” “Shields are a mental barrier you learn to erect around your mind to keep your own thoughts in and other’s thoughts out.” Her brow wrinkled and a ghost of a smile curved the corners of his lips in response. “Let me see if I can explain more clearly.” He picked up the red chili pepper salt shaker and placed it on the table between them. “Pretend the chili pepper is your mind. Every time a synapses fires inside your brain, a tiny spark of psychic energy is created. People who are sensitive enough can detect those sparks both from themselves and from others.” He held his hands around the shaker, making a circle with his touching fingers. “Using psychic power, a mental shield can be constructed that acts like either a filter or a total barrier.” “I’ve definitely got to get some of those.” Before the next time I go to sleep and let my mind and my hormones run wild! Luckily, he made no gesture that said he’d heard her last thought. “I’ll make you a deal.” He

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looked her in the eye before she could look down again. “Once you can make and maintain your own shields, I’ll let you shield me for a while. That should equal out the embarrassment factor—since no one is good at editing their own thoughts. And that will also help you practice.” Cassidy thought about her immediate options. She had to learn to use these new powers in any event, she might as well take any perks that presented themselves along the way. A slow smile bloomed across her face before she could stop it. “A chance to see what a man actually thinks? Who would I be to pass up such a monumental opportunity for women-kind?” “I figured you for a resilient woman.” Mischief danced in his eyes. “Why don’t we finish up breakfast and I’ll teach you how to shield?” She took a deep breath and felt a trickle of excitement as she thought about exploring her new ability. “Ok, let’s get to it. But I have to warn you, I’m something of a perfectionist.” Zach smiled, “Tell me about it. Sometime we need to discuss why anyone would alphabetize their spices.” ***** “Hey now, no need to resort to language like that,” Zach scolded. Cassidy rubbed her aching temples. Her head ached from hours of attempting to construct mindshields under Zach’s demanding tutelage. She could keep her shields up for extended periods of time and they were extremely strong, but when she lost concentration, they would drop. She really needed to learn to put them up and leave them up without thinking about it. Easier said than done! “If I shielded properly, you wouldn’t have heard me swear, now would you?” she asked in her most sarcastic tone. Her frustration at not being able to perfectly produce the shields was beginning to wear on her. “Take a deep breath and try once more.” His deep voice reverberated over her in sensuous waves of sensation, distracting her from her headache. “I’ll talk you through it.” He capped the request with a boyish grin—the one which employed his killer dimple, and turned her into instant goo. Gritting her teeth, she allowed pure stubborn pride to force her to try again. “Okay, talk away. But this is the last time. Then I need a break.” She pierced him with a stern stare to ensure he knew she was serious. “Take a deep breath, let it out slowly and close your eyes.” Dutifully, she followed his directions. As her eyes closed she could now see the small sparkles of energy which comprised her psychic energy. That feat alone had taken her the entire first hour. “Good. Now gather your energy and fashion it into shields.”

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Originally she’d tried to picture the children’s blocks like Zach did, but just couldn’t make them work. So, she’d switched over to the Star Trek-type shields which shimmered and sparked opaque. Those turned out to be worse than the blocks, so she’d moved on to a large castle-type wall. Mentally gathering the psychic energy into a large sparkling ball, she pictured a solid blue-grey stone wall built in a giant sphere around her mind. “Good.” Zach’s mind gently brushed hers. “Now don’t forget the windows, so you can choose to let information in or out as you decide to.” As if triggered by his words, small castle windows appeared at regular intervals inside her wall, square on the bottom and coming to a v point on top. The adrenaline of triumph began to flow through her, but then the walls wavered and floated away, becoming nothing but small sparkles of energy once more. “Damn!” She opened her eyes and the pain in her head doubled, throbbing in time with her pounding heart. “This is really pissing me off!” The insistent doorbell saved her from the supportive ‘try again’ message she knew had to be burning on Zach’s lips. “Are you expecting anyone?” Cassidy shook her head, which did nothing to calm her headache. “Whoever it is, I hope they have cold beer.” “I’ll get it,” he said over his shoulder as he strode off toward the door. “My team would’ve alerted me if it’s anyone suspicious, but I’d rather be safe.” Cassidy heard the unmistakable sound of her best friend’s whiskey voice at the front door. “Well, well, well. Please tell me you’re my birthday present from Cassidy this year and I’ll die a happy woman.” Cassidy bolted for the door, to intervene before Zach replied. She could tell by the look on her friend’s face, Kathy assumed she’d just barged in on a tryst. “Kath!” Cassidy rushed past Zach to give her friend a big hug. She pulled Kathy into the room, and motioned for Zach to close the door. “God, I’ve missed you. How was Chicago?” “Boring, endless rehearsals and no one to gossip with on breaks.” Kathy sat her purse and a brown paper sack down on the couch and trained her sea green eyes on Cassidy. “So, spill. Who’s the Adonis you have answering your door?” She gestured toward Zach as if he were a new piece of furniture she was inquiring about. “Kathy Martin, this is Zach Hatcher. Zach is my new neighbor.” Kathy shook Zach’s hand and held on. “Sooooo, I can see my best friend already snapped you

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up. Do you have any twin brothers? Cousins? Unmarried friends who aren’t pigs?” Zach chuckled. “I may have a few friends who might do, but that all depends on your definition of ‘pig’. One woman’s swine is another woman’s stud, from what I’ve heard.” Kathy’s easy laughter filled the room like warm flowing wine. “I like you, Zach.” She tapped his chest with a French manicured fingernail. “Just take care of my girl, or I’ll kick your ass.” She turned her attention back to Cassidy. “So, do you have time for a girl catch up session and a couple of pints or do you want me to come back later?” She smiled meaningfully over her shoulder at Zach. Zack answered. “I’ve got to go and get some things done at my place. You two have fun.” He leaned over and gave Cassidy a quick kiss on the cheek. The contact sizzled through her, reminding her of their steamy kiss from last night. He’s under cover, don’t read anything into it. But he enjoyed the kiss last night too, if I remember correctly. She tried to reach out mentally to see how Zach felt about it, but, still tired from their practice, she couldn’t reach him. “Go easy on those pints so early in the day.” He smiled evilly at Cassidy and wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Kathy pulled the pints in question out of the bag. “Pecan Praline or Rocky Road?” she asked Cassidy, an amused glint in her eyes. Zach laughed. “Uh oh, ice cream and women means sex talk—I’m outta here. See you later, Cass.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze. “It’s very nice to meet you, Kathy.” “You too, Zach,” she called after his retreating form. Kathy immediately handed the Pecan Praline to her friend and pressed her into a nearby chair. “Okay, I’ll get spoons and then I want to hear everything, no matter how minute.”

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CHAPTER FOUR Cassidy spent an entire pint of ice cream catching her friend up on the events of the weekend— with creative alteration of the facts. She left out anything about Zach being FBI and anything about her new psychic gifts. “Wow, leave you alone for a weekend and look what happens.” Kathy put her empty carton on the coffee table next to her. “Girl, I knew Brian August was an ass the first day we met him, but I didn’t think

he

would

attack

you.

Do

the

police

have

any

leads

on

this

guy?”

Cassidy marveled at her friend’s perfect lipstick—even after an entire pint of ice cream. “I really haven’t heard anything more about the case,” she lied, a twinge of guilt chafing her conscience. “But ever since Zach picked me up off the lawn—my thoughts really haven’t been centered around Brian.” “Amen, sister! Zach is a hottie. So are you two officially dating, or what’s the scoop? I can tell from the way the room sizzles between you two there’s some chemistry there, but what have I missed? Come on, I need to live vicariously through someone.” Cassidy laughed. “You’ve got men following you around like puppies, I should be living vicariously through you.” Kathy pursed her perfect red lips. “They’re all disappointed when they realize this package has a brain.” Cassidy glanced over at her friend. Kathy always looked like a California girl super model who just stepped out of a fashion magazine or off a movie set. Long past being jealous, she knew she had the opposite problem. Men knew right away Cassidy had a brain, they just didn’t really think she had enough of a package to go with it. “Anyway, as for details, nothing to pass on I haven’t already told you. One earth moving and totally embarrassing kiss and one terrific breakfast. And, sorry to disappoint you, but you didn’t interrupt a hot session of sex.” Cassidy glanced over at her friend. “But he did comment that anyone who alphabetizes their spices has issues.” Kathy snorted and eyed Cassidy’s ice cream. Cassidy passed it over since she’d only picked at it anyway. I must be stressed if I didn’t inhale that pint! “Since I put the spices up there in hopes you’d one day learn how to cook, that tells me you haven’t used them yet. But I’m persistent. I’ll just mother you until I get some kids of my own.” She took a large bite of Rocky Road and made an orgasmic sounding “mmm” in the back of her throat. It had become an old joke between them since Kathy was a gourmet cook and Cassidy’s definition of gourmet was anything not eaten standing over the sink.

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Cassidy shrugged her shoulders. “Good luck. God wouldn’t have invented take out if he didn’t want us to use it.” Kathy’s green eyes twinkled with mischief. “A man that can cook—tell me he’s great in bed and has a steady job and we’ll hold him down and clone him.” “I’d really like to find out about that great in bed part.” Cassidy blushed when she realized she’d said it out loud. “That a girl,” Kathy coaxed. “It’s about time you went on the offence for a change.” “There’s definitely a connection between us Kath. I’ve never felt such a strong one with anyone.” Kathy tucked a strand of long strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. “I know there are a lot of men out there who haven’t treated you right, but this guy looks at you like he wants to start at the top and nibble his way down.” Kathy licked ice cream off the back of her spoon. “Besides—I have a good feeling about him.” Feeling? Cassidy started. Did Kathy have some of the natural psychic talent Zach talked about? “Why do you say that?” She reached out mentally to her friend using the new skills she’d acquired this afternoon. Protectiveness radiated from Kathy, but their connection wasn’t as strong as the one with Zach. “He gives me good vibes, he’s one of those people you trust right away. Now Brian, I disliked the very first time I set eyes on him. He struck me as a slimy used-car salesman type.” Kathy got up to throw away the ice cream containers and Cassidy heard her open the refrigerator. “Can I ask you something?” Cassidy called into the kitchen. “Whoa, you’ve never had to ask me that before, this must be big. What’s going on?” Kathy walked back and sat on the footstool in front of her friend. “I’m afraid. I really like this guy. I know it’s crazy and we’ve only known each other a few days, but I can’t deny how I feel. And I’m pretty sure he feels it too.” “So what’s the problem?” Kathy asked. “You mean besides thinking I’ve lost my mind?” She took a moment to search for the words to explain what she felt. “I’ve gone from viewing dating as a necessary evil in life to wanting to seriously pursue someone.” Kathy kicked off her heels and slouched back into the overstuffed loveseat. “Sometimes it works that way. My parents knew they should be together from the first moment. My dad described it like a magnet that kept pulling him toward my mom. They both felt it and went with it. They’ve been

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together for thirty-five years.” “Romantic, but not what I’m getting at.” Cassidy rushed to get the words out before she lost her nerve. “Okay, so what if I’m brave and I go for it and I suck?” Kathy laughed. “Most men really like that.” “I’m serious, Kath. I’ve only slept with one guy and he told all our friends to start calling me the Ice Queen.” Kathy laughed, amusement and mischief dancing in her eyes. “You’re talking about minute man? I’m sorry, but the man needs to look up the word foreplay—it doesn’t involve groping your boob once before he hops on.” Cassidy laughed in spite of herself. “Look, Cassidy, I realize I’ve been around a few more bedposts than you have and I’m telling you, when it’s the right guy—it’s great. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.” Cassidy sighed. Her gut told her Zach was the one. And if this weekend had taught her anything, it was not to ignore her gut. “Okay, but you’d better have some backup pints if I need them.” ***** Cassidy stood in front of Zach’s front door trying to find the courage to knock. She spent the entire afternoon after Kathy left, coming to grips with her new talents and trying to cope with the feelings Zach stirred up inside her. She’d gone her whole life without finding true sparks flying between her and a man. And now they were definitely flying with this one, since the very first touch. But what makes him different from all the others? When Phil Sanders kissed her during a field trip in the seventh grade, she’d sucker punched him and broken his nose so none of the other boys tried for quite a few years. How unfair—you beat up one burly football player and you get a reputation. There had been dates in high school and college, she went to dances and proms and a few movies, but all of those guys ended up labeling her ”one of the guys” and giving her the dreaded line— “let’s just be friends.” She’d never understood what all the fuss was about until last night. Last night showed her the molten thrill that melted her bones and made her feel as if liquid fire rushed through her veins. No wonder she hadn’t been interested in relationships after the Minute Man and before Zach— she literally hadn’t known what she was missing. Well, no more! Now that I know, I want to experience the rest. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Since Zach happened to be mentoring her anyway, and she still remembered his fevered reaction to her kiss, she was going to be straightforward and ask for more. Men like independent

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women—right? Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked in what she hoped was a confident manner. Okay, who am I kidding? I’m nervous as hell! She wiped her sweaty palms against the thighs of her pants. Just my luck I’m trying to act confident around a mind reader. “Come in, Cassidy, and I wouldn’t be reading your mind if you’d remembered to put up your shields.” She jumped as she heard his voice inside her head. She concentrated, put up her shields and thought back, “FINE.” She heard a distinct chuckle deep inside her mind as she pushed the door open. “I’m out back…” She wove through the sea of clutter from the move admiring some very modern prints with bold slashes of color that leaned against the wall. She could easily see what the room would look like once unpacked. Done in real oak in a deep honey color, furniture peeked out from under mounds of boxes. The room’s other prevailing colors were hunter green and maroon—very masculine and fitting for the rugged man who owned them. She reached the glass double sliding doors, pushed them open and stopped short. Zach sported nothing but a very small pair of workout shorts and some tennis shoes. In the process of trimming up the large palm tree that stood in the corner of his new back yard with a rather wicked looking power saw, a light sheen of sweat trickled down his tanned skin.

She watched

mesmerized as his muscles bunched and released with his movements. It took her a moment to form any coherent thoughts beyond “wow” or “yummy.” Instead, she cleared her throat and tried for cool and confident. “Great house,” she called out and began to walk toward him. Great everything else, too. Zach wiped sweat out of his eyes with the back of his hand and stooped to pick up a bottle of water. “I think it really could be, but out here it’s been sadly neglected.” Dry yellow husks and weeds, seemed to be the only things hearty enough to bloom in the harsh Arizona summers. She turned her attention back to Zach and smiled. “It’s got some real potential, I like it. But if this is just an FBI cover house, why bother with the yard work?” Zach drank deeply from his bottled water and considered her. “Since you were having girl catch up time and my team is still watching your house, I figured this would be even better than my normal workout. Besides, I like this place. I may think about buying it when all this is done.” She stood blocking her eyes from the afternoon sun with her hand. She tried to ignore the surge

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of hope that surrounded thoughts of Zach staying close when all this was over. Changing the subject seemed safer. She quickly checked her shields to make sure he hadn’t heard her. “I really need practice at keeping my shields up, don’t I?” “It comes with time. You’re already good at building them. It’s only been a day, before long it will be like breathing. You’ll only have to concentrate when you want to drop them.” He poured the rest of the water over his head to cool off and headed toward the patio chairs on the back porch. Grabbing a towel he’d slung over the side fence he plopped down in the nearest patio chair. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” The blush reached her cheeks in record time. “I thought you heard it, there at the front door.” He toweled off his hair and wiped the sweat from his face. “It’s not like a radio that’s constantly on, I have to be paying attention and be open to it. However, it’s louder and more insistent when you’re nervous or upset. Or when you directly send me your thoughts.” He tossed the towel onto the patio table. “So, I knew you were at the door and were nervous enough to send me thoughts about you trying to act confident around a mind reader.” He reached out to take her hand in his and she tried not to let him feel her pulse jump. “It’s not my intent to pry. I try to let you maintain your privacy when I can. So, in that regard, I’m like every other male in the known universe, you have to assume I have no clue what you’re thinking and explain it to me.” He grinned, his face devastatingly handsome as he played with her fingertips. Cassidy laughed.

“And here I thought this would improve the whole male/female

misunderstanding thing.” “It’s like every other mode of communication between men and women.

We’re wired

differently, so there will always be misunderstandings.” He flashed a smile that sent mischief dancing in his eyes. “It’s part of God’s sense of humor.” She laughed and tried to keep from drowning in his eyes. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” The question broke her out of an intense study of his face. She carefully checked her mental shields again and cleared her throat. “I like to approach things logically when possible, Zach.” She leaned back into the chair and crossed her legs, hoping he wouldn’t notice her body shaking with nerves. “I know we’re both attracted to each other and there were definitely some sparks between us last night.” “Sparks,” he repeated with a slow smile.

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More like a wildfire. “Yes, sparks.” She wiped her damp palms on her jeans and tucked her hair behind her ears in a nervous habit. “You see, I’ve come over here to ask if you like to eat. I mean, well, of course you like to eat, everyone likes to eat.” Great job, Cassidy. Very smooth. She began to worry the silver locket that hung around her neck. “What I mean is….” She blew out a puff of breath. “Are you trying to ask me if I’d like to go to dinner with you?” He lowered his head until she looked up into his eyes. “I am, but not very smoothly.” She bristled, her frustration evident. “This is the first time I’ve asked someone out. It’s much harder than I thought it would be.” Zach took both her hands in his. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight.” He smiled at her and she tried not to fidget. “There’s an extremely attractive, single woman in my backyard asking me out on a date. Hmm, do I look like an idiot?” She immediately noticed the look of shock that flew across his face, like he wasn’t sure if the words had come out of his own mouth or not. She looked up at him and waited. “Cassidy, I’d love to. But…” He held up a finger for emphasis. “We need to concentrate on the case.” Cassidy pushed away from the table and stood up. If she was going to feel like an idiot, she’d do it from the vantage of standing. “Look, if you’re trying to let me down easy, don’t bother.” She tried to keep her voice nonchalant. “I’m a big girl and…” Zach stood up and put his hands on her shoulders, effectively interrupting her before she could make an even bigger ass out of herself. “Cassidy, listen to what I have to say.” The heat from his hands coursed through her taking some of the sting out of his answer. “First of all, you’re a material witness and we should be trying to keep this on a professional level.” She could immediately feel the lie. Almost a nervousness within his aura of power. She looked him straight in the eye. “I thought you said it doesn’t do any good for people with our gift to lie to each other. I can’t hear your thoughts right now, I know you’re blocking me, but I can tell you’re lying.” She aimed her best accusatory stare at him until he faltered and looked away. “Damn it, woman.” He muttered as he moved away from her and plopped back down into the patio chair. She decided to press her advantage. “I know we’re attracted to each other. Even when you’re blocking me I can feel at least that much. Besides, aren’t we supposed to be posing as girlfriend and boyfriend? How are we going to do that convincingly with people who know me very well if you aren’t even comfortable around me?” She sat down in the chair opposite him and picked up another bottle of water out of the cooler sitting on the ground next to them.

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Zach sighed and finally met her direct gaze. “Look, it’s nothing against you. I know you think there’s a mutual attraction, but you’re still learning to use your gift, and maybe you’ve mistaken what you’re reading from me.” This time the falseness of the remark radiated out from him in waves of energy. She could actually see the small sparkles of energy darken as they flowed outward. She raised her left eyebrow in what Kathy called her “teacher look” until Zach relented. “Okay, okay, you’re right.” He held his hands out in front of him in surrender. “I’m full of shit. I can’t hide the truth from you.” He ran his fingers through his thick black hair and she became so mesmerized by watching the water slide down onto his bare chest she almost missed his next words. “Not that I could if I tried, apparently.” “So tell me what it is you’re afraid of, and we’ll get it out of the way and move on.” He remained silent for so long, she wondered if he would even speak. But then, finally, he dropped his shields and his feelings wrapped around her like a caress. His deep sense of sadness and loss settled over her. “I used to be engaged to a woman with the gift, and she died. You can’t imagine how hard it is to lose someone with such a close bond.” She concentrated on the feelings pouring from him. “You’re right. I can’t imagine it. But I can feel it.” He nodded and they both let the quiet close around them for a few minutes. Finally, he said, “I admit it—I’m very attracted to you. But, Cassidy, dating between two gifted people is different than dating non-gifted people. I’m just not sure if either one of us is strong enough for it.” “I don’t see how it would be different.” She remained stubborn, refusing to be dissuaded when she’d already put herself on the line. “I mean, yes, I’m still a little freaked out when you speak inside my head, but I don’t see how that could affect dating. Especially when we are both gifted. I would think that would give us more in common.” She sensed his reluctance but also his attraction. He was close to giving in. He smiled down at her and ran his knuckles over her check in a caress that sent heat coiling deep in her stomach. “Are you willing to let me show you what I’m talking about?” He pulled her against him gently, heat from the long line of his muscular form stealing the breath from her lungs. She looked up into his eyes. “Yes.” Her voice came out in a strained whisper. “Open your mind.” He reached out until their minds linked, and when she relaxed past the initial tenseness, he took her mouth in a slow sweet caress. Instantly, sensations swirled around her and the world suddenly came into sharper focus. Not

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only did her sensations batter at her incessantly, but so did his. I can feel how soft my skin is under his calloused fingers and what my mouth tastes like! How is this possible? Before she could examine it, he delved deeper inside her mind even as his tongue dipped inside to dance with hers. She staggered under the dual feeling of being both inside his body and hers simultaneously. Strange sensations swirled inside her and she automatically shifted to press against his aching erection more comfortably for both of them. As she became more familiar with the strange new experience, she melted against him. He ran rough hands up the sides of her breasts and brushed his thumbs lightly over her nipples. Shudders ran through them as both felt the sensation equally. Twin lances of molten need fired through them—desire flared, flamed, then exploded. Throwing all caution aside, Cassidy buried her hands in his thick hair and met his pure elemental passion with her own. She willingly let herself drown in the taste of him—hot, spicy, dangerous—her body demanded more. Pressing harder against the long line of him, they both moaned at the feel of her soft flesh against his sensitive erection. Caught in a vortex, mounting tensions built to some almost unbearable point. Instinctively, she took even more and reveled in the power that would allow this much sensation to run wild through both of them. All her inhibitions left in tatters, she played her hand over the hard line of his abdomen and then trailed her fingers lower to caress his thick erection. Her breath came in choppy pants as the coil of heat low in her stomach reached a breaking point. Zach broke the contact suddenly and stepped back, holding Cassidy at arms length. They were both breathless and her system still screamed for more. It took a minute for her head to stop spinning and for her to be able to feel her wobbly legs beneath her. “Cassidy, I’m sorry.” He blew out a long breath and drew in another shaky one as if trying to relearn how to breathe. “That was pretty intense. I haven’t had any practice feeling the sensations for both people for a very long time.” He paused as if searching for the right words. “If I hadn’t stepped back, things would have been over before they started.” He looked into her face with a sheepish grin. A blush crept into her cheeks as the realization of what he meant. “Oh.” She cocked her chin to look up at him. “Is that what you were trying to show me?” His lips quirked. “Well, yes. But I was also trying to scare you a little. To show you when our minds are linked like that, there are no secrets between us. You could’ve reached out and picked out any thought, memory or emotion stored in my mind and experienced it as yours. Or at least you could

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have, if we hadn’t been so distracted.” He grinned self-consciously. Cassidy looked up into the warm cognac-colored eyes. “And you could’ve seen any of mine as well, right?” He only nodded. Someone who could see anything she’d ever thought, done or experienced—quite an act of trust. She’d never trusted anyone with that much of herself before. But her gut instincts told her to move ahead and be brave. She let her mouth quirk into a flirtatious smile. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Zach’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Excuse me?” “Your thoughts, Zach,” she chuckled. “I’m game if you are.” He seemed to mull over how to answer, so she let him off the hook—for now. “Why don’t you get cleaned up? Is pizza and goofy golf okay for a first date?” She reached out to offer him her hand. He looked at the offered hand. “You’re a brave woman.” “Yes, I am.” She smiled with a glint of mischief. “And we can talk about this FBI file of mine you’ve read over dinner.” He looked so surprised, she threw back her head and laughed. “I told you I’m a perfectionist, which also means I learn fast.” He took her hand. “Yes, I guess you do.”

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CHAPTER FIVE

“Where did you find this place? Great pizza.” Zach took a bite of steaming double meat, double cheese pizza. He watched Cassidy’s hazel eyes light up as she laughed. “I didn’t find Ray’s Pizza, it found me. I love this place. I would never have made it through college finals without their meatball subs.” Something inside Zach shifted. Every time she laughed, the world around them got a little brighter. Why did she have to be so terrific? He watched her plow through another piece of pizza. Their date so far had been the best he’d been on—since his fiancée Diane. The familiar pain and loss that came with thoughts of Diane flowed through him, almost crippling, even after all this time. He wasn’t sure he could handle losing another person he cared about; which meant he couldn’t afford to let himself care about Cassidy. Cassidy interrupted his thoughts. “I can’t believe you shot a thirty over par at Goofy Golf. Haven’t you ever played before?” Zach refused to admit he kept missing because he’d been distracted by the sight of her in a tank top and tight jeans. Especially the way those jeans outlined her perfect heart-shaped derriere when she bent over to putt. “I let you win.” He couldn’t quite meet her eyes since he knew she heard his thoughts several times while she’d putted. “Bull. You’re a horrible liar. I can feel waves of guilt off you every time you try.” The stunning smile she offered him took away any sting from the comment. “I know. I’m a horrible liar even with people who aren’t psychic. But Anderson and Gerald liked watching you putt too.” He tried for his best innocent tone and took a large swig of beer before searching for some safer subject. “Can I ask you something?” Cassidy nodded since she still chewed on a mouth full of pizza. She took a drink of beer and swallowed. “If you tell me we can go for dessert after this, I’ll tell you anything.” He reached over and brushed a long auburn curl away from her face that had fallen out of her ponytail. Her deep hazel eyes had the most fascinating green flecks in them. A sudden visual memory of when he’d carried her into her house popped into his mind—her eyes had been so alive with those bits of green, he’d been lost in them and didn’t resist when she kissed him. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat to better position the sudden erection that surfaced at the memory of kissing the sexy goddess across from him. “Do you have any special dessert in mind, or

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are you looking for more pints?” Cassidy grinned. “How dare you try and sully a girl catch-up time tradition.” Zach reached for another piece of pizza. “Far be it from me to tarnish such an institution.” He picked off a pepperoni and popped it into his mouth. “So, was I right?” He looked up at her and waited for the realization to dawn. He loved watching the blush work its way up her lovely, long neck. She took a drink before answering. “Of course we talked about sex. What else are you supposed to talk about over ice cream?” she asked innocently. He recognized a loaded answer when he heard one and waded in before he could think better of it. “How about Baskin Robbins for dessert?” he asked nonchalantly. Cassidy began furiously choking. He reached across the table and patted her back until she could breathe normally again. Damn, he loved to make her nervous. He could picture how she would be with all of her inhibitions stripped away; naked, writhing and moaning under him—or on top of him for that matter. He’d never wanted a woman quite so badly. When she kissed him earlier, he dipped into a bottomless well of primal sexuality he knew she kept hidden away from the world. Now that he knew it existed, he couldn’t keep his mind from imagining what it would be like to dive into that well head first and see just how deep it went. At the look on her face, he did a hasty check on his shields. Nope—fully in place, she must still be embarrassed about the ice cream comment. At the thought of the ice cream comment, he entertained a brief fantasy of spreading ice cream over her full breasts and licking it off. Cassidy glanced over at him, her quizzical expression causing him to do another hasty shields check. He definitely didn’t want her to hear what he’d just been thinking. “What were you going to ask me before I brought up the dessert subject?” It took him a moment to remember his question had started the whole exchange. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you, I guess I just got a little too into the spirit of the moment.” She gave him a wry smile. “Don’t worry about it, I started it. If you can’t take it, don’t dish it. So what were you going to ask me?” “What you ever saw in Brian August.” He blurted the comment without thinking and at the stricken look on her face, realized he may have asked too personal a question. Cassidy wiped her hands on a napkin as if stalling for time while she formulated an answer. “It’s going to sound incredibly stupid.” She squirmed in her seat and didn’t meet his gaze. The woman has a traumatic experience and you rub salt in the wound—great job, Zach. “I’m

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sorry Cassidy, you don’t have to answer that.” “I don’t mind. I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately anyway.” She stared at her beer bottle and slowly peeled the label back as she spoke. “I met Brian after a concert at Phoenix Symphony Hall last month. He was handsome and polite and seemed very interested in classical music…and me.” She sighed and finally met his gaze. “I knew it wasn’t right, but I ignored my gut. And to be honest, I was lonely and figured a couple of drinks with a handsome man couldn’t hurt anything.” Her deep feelings of loneliness crashed over him. She’d become distracted and dropped her shields. Her mind unconsciously reached out to join with his. “You weren’t desperate, Cassidy—everyone gets lonely and tries to make it work where it shouldn’t.” Damn, she felt so right being there inside his mind. They belonged together. Whoa—where did that thought come from? Panic flowed through him in a dark tide, making his palms sweat and his head swim. He gently pulled away from her mind touch and tried to convince himself the thought came from Cassidy, but he knew better. Cassidy seemed lost in her memories and he didn’t think she noticed him pulling away. After a pregnant silence that hung between them, she continued. “When Brian asked me out for the second date, he knew I was reluctant. But he pushed all the right buttons until I agreed despite my better judgement.” She sighed again and mimicked Brian’s cultured tone. “Come now, Cassidy, such a beautiful woman should dress up now and then in something besides concert black and get out on the town. You shouldn’t hide away under jeans and T-shirts. We’ll go to the Top of the Rock for lobster and champagne. Let me make you feel like the exquisite woman you are.” She shook her head and rubbed at her temples. “There were no sparks with Brian, but I really did want to get out and dress up and feel like an attractive woman for an evening. I sound pretty shallow, don’t I?” “No. You sound like a woman who had a really bad second date.” Amusement danced in her hazel eyes. “I remember thinking that in the cab ride on the way home, right before I started entertaining thoughts of a brain tumor.” Zach caught himself reaching for her hand and stopped. It wouldn’t do him any good to keep touching her this way. I’m getting too attached for my own good. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to erase the frown from her face and ease her regrets. “Just because your date turned out to be a serial killer doesn’t mean you should give up on dating altogether.” He brushed the wayward curl away from her face again. “It just means you have to pick

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better guys next time.” Envisioning Cassidy in the arms of another man made his stomach hurt. I’m spiraling out of control with her. It won’t be long before I won’t be able to walk away from her at all. Distance was what he needed now—and fast. Cassidy reached out a mental caress and he blocked her. “Cassidy, please—don’t. I don’t think I can do this…” Cassidy’s eyes swam with hurt. “What’s going on in there Zach?” She pointed to his head. “You won’t let me in, but your feelings are swinging back and forth like a pendulum.” He felt like a grade-A heel, but the instinct for self-preservation was too well ingrained for him to back away now. “It’s not you—it’s me—” She cut him off. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that line in my lifetime? If you dare let the words ‘let’s just be friends’ slip through your lips, so help me you’ll walk out of here limping.” Guilt rushed over Zach in a giant wave. Hadn’t he seen that very insecurity inside her mind, and now he’d used it on her? He never used his powers to hurt someone. What’s happening to me? He took a deep breath and readied himself to beg for forgiveness. “I’m sorry, it’s just…,” He reached out to try and touch her mind and met with steel-hard shields sizzling with unmistakable anger. While he was impressed with her aptitude, the timing didn’t help his cause. “Don’t bother explaining, I told you I’m a big girl. I don’t need the pity date. It’s obvious from your thoughts you can’t make up your mind what you want. And, damn it—I deserve better. If you didn’t want to start this—you could’ve said so at the beginning and saved us both the trouble.” Cassidy grabbed her purse and stalked away from him before he could stop her. “Damn,” Muttering, he grabbed his cell phone. Clicking on the radio button he spoke into the phone. “She’s on her way out Anderson, can you take her home?” “She looks plenty pissed, Hatcher. But I’ll take her.” Anderson’s voice crackled in reply followed by the phone’s “chirp” signaling the message was over. “Okay, we’ve got her.” Zach was glad he had two agents shadowing them, he didn’t want her endangering herself because he’d hurt her. “Why am I such a coward? There’s a beautiful, intelligent, vibrant woman who is interested in me, and I’m shoving her away. How much of an idiot can I be?” Zach sighed and reached out tentatively to touch Cassidy’s mind. He got the mental equivalent of a slap and pulled back immediately. “Guess I should give her some cool down time before I grovel for forgiveness.” Zach heard a chuckle and looked up. The waiter stood in front of him, hands on hips, a large smile creasing his beefy face. “I’d give her a lot of cool down time judging from the fire in her eyes.

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I’ve never seen her quite that angry.” He chuckled again and began to clear the table. “Yeah, I think you’re right.” ***** Cassidy floated in and out of the strange dream. Someone called to her, she knew they wanted her to follow. She opened her eyes and saw—Brian. His leering face so close to hers, his hot breath feathered against her lips. Icy fingers of panic tore through her and she began to struggle, to wake herself up from the dream she knew held her. As if through a thick mist, she felt the sheets of her bed clutched in a death grip in her hands. Experimentally, she wiggled her fingers. Relief flowed through her when they responded. They brushed against the soft cotton of the t-shirt she’d worn to bed, reassuring her she was asleep in her own bed. But when she opened her eyes, she still saw Brian. Am I in a dream, or is this real? “You can’t fight me, Cassidy. I’ll come for you soon. In the meantime, I thought you should see what I have in store for you.” His evil laugh sent chills up and down her spine. Her view panned out to encompass not only Brian, but a pretty red-head. The woman, probably around her own age, stood with her arms around Brian. Suddenly, Cassidy knew what Brian planned to do. “No! Stop it, Brian. Let her go,” she pleaded. “She’s mine, Cassidy, just as you are. Your escape only delayed the inevitable.” She shook her head in denial, trying to shake loose the vision. Helplessness flowed through her body like lethargic molasses as Brian leaned in to kiss the girl, who smiled up at him and eagerly returned the kiss. Brian’s thrill at his impending use of power flowed through Cassidy, as well as the passion the girl poured into the kiss. She realized the girl’s name from the connection. “Run, Tia!” Cassidy shouted inside her mind. Tia stiffened, but Brian held her in a viselike grip. The white-hot pain Cassidy remembered too well seared into the girl’s mind like a branding iron. Tia’s fear and Brain’s elation and sense of invulnerability assaulted Cassidy’s already overloaded senses. Cassidy struggled against the sensation of Brian’s insistent lips against hers—she whipped her head from side to side in an attempt to dislodge the phantom mouth. She must have sent the idea to Tia too, because soon she tried to dislodge Brian’s mouth the same way. He only increased the pressure of his grip reveling in her mounting fear. Hot tears flowed freely down Cassidy’s cheeks as she struggled to find some way to reach out and help Tia. The pain and terror, almost more than she could bear, flowed over her. She could do nothing but endure it and offer what hope and support she could to the dying girl.

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Tia’s strength was waning, and Cassidy sobbed harder. Her mind whirled frantically as she tried to think of anything to help. All at once, her link to Tia vanished. How can someone be so alive and full of life one instant and then gone the next? Fear and sorrow threatened to drown her and she blinked away her tears, unable to tear her eyes away from the gruesome scene. Brian let the girl fall to the pavement in a boneless heap and for the first time, Cassidy noticed the surroundings. They were in an alley and she could see Camelback Mountain in the distance, highlighted by the glow of the full moon. From the loud music and the smell of liquor, she concluded a bar or a club must be nearby. She heard Lone Star crooning Amazed, and tried to think of a country bar in the general area. Even though she’d failed to help Tia, maybe she could help Zach find her body quickly, along with some clues to catch Brian before he killed again. “I’ll come and find you soon, Cassidy.” A phantom caress feathered across her cheek before Brian severed the connection. When the room reformed around her, Zach held her tight against his chest. “Cassidy, can you hear me?” Zach looked frantic. She nodded and immediately folded herself into his tight embrace, letting her tears continue. Zach slowly rocked her, his hand making comforting circles over her back. “It’s okay. I’m right here.” She relaxed all pretense at shields and let Zach’s emotions riot around her. Fear and anger flowed over her, but all of those emotions only made her feel safe and cared for. When her tears finally ran out, she pulled back from him and met his concerned gaze. “Brian killed another woman.” “How do you know?” His voice was gentle, as if he was afraid she might shatter into a million pieces. And Cassidy was very much afraid he might be right. “I was caught in some sort of vision. I could feel my sheets and I could move, but I couldn’t see anything except what Brian wanted me to. I saw him kill a woman. Her name was Tia.” Realizing she was rambling, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing mind. “Zach, I couldn’t do anything to stop him. I tried to warn her—I even think she heard me, but by then it was too late.” Zach smoothed the hair away from her face in a comforting gesture. “Cassidy, let me touch your mind, so I can see what you saw.” She nodded and leaned into his embrace. She would let him share this burden for a while. Shoving memories of their spoiled date out of her mind, she drank in his nearness. A soft caress feathered against her mind. She sighed. This is how it should be. Everything felt

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right when Zach touched her—physically or psychically. Why didn’t he see that? Suddenly, a thought struck her—she’d felt Tia’s pain as her own tonight. Had Zach felt his fiancée’s as she died? Was that why he seemed so intent on pushing her away? Zach’s mind touch ripped away as if he’d been burned. “I have to go and report this.” His voice rebuffed her and he wouldn’t meet her questing gaze. “Is that why you’re so afraid to recognize what’s between us?” She hated that she heard the hurt in her voice and knew Zach would hear it too. She felt even worse when he didn’t answer her. “I’m so sorry, Zach, I didn’t know.” She reached out with both her hand and her mind, but he stepped away from both and walked out the door without a backward glance. The warm sting of tears filled her eyes again as sadness and loss swept over her in great, drowning waves. She wasn’t sure if it was for Zach, for Tia or for herself. She curled into a ball, cradling her pillow tight against her chest like a teddy bear and let the tears flow again. ***** “Don’t you have any diet soda?” asked Agent Gerald rummaging around inside Zach’s refrigerator. Diet Pepsi reminded Zach of Cassidy’s refrigerator, which brought back thoughts of her. Memories of how vulnerable she looked last night in his arms and how the scent of her perfume enflamed his senses. The last things he wanted to think about right now, since he needed to keep distance between them. “Are we here to discuss the case or your stomach?” Zach demanded. “Easy there, Zach,” Dix countered and then turned his attention to Gerald. “Gerald, if you’re going to grab something, take it and get in here.” Dix moved a large box marked ‘tools’ and sat down on the living room sofa. He gestured for Zach to begin the briefing. Zach cleared his throat and pushed thoughts of Cassidy firmly out of his mind. “We found the body of Tia Reynolds outside a bar downtown with a note addressed to Cassidy lying on top of the body. It said “Your time is coming soon.” The body had the same signs of psychic residue as all the rest. He seems to be holding to his new MO and his obsession with Cassidy is clear.” Dix interrupted. “You said you threw him out of her mind the night you found her on the lawn, right? Why couldn’t you do the same thing last night?” “Unfortunately, she was trying so hard to block out the Reaper—she had her shields up tight. I sensed her distress, but couldn’t get in to toss him out.” She could have died and I was helpless to stop it. He shook the thought away and refocused his mind on the briefing. He wouldn’t do either of them

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any good if he couldn’t stay on track. “So, how did the Reaper still get in if her shields were that tight?” asked Gerald skeptically. Zach could tell Gerald still had trouble buying into the whole psychic angle, but Dix looked like he was at least listening. Zach answered. “Since he opened her psychic powers, at least partially, he has a special link with her, which can get past her shields. The only person who could have a stronger link with her would be the person who opens her powers the rest of the way.” Dix looked at Zach with a confused expression, his brows knitted, his eyes questioning. “Then why don’t you just open her the rest of the way and you’d be one up on the Reaper?” “It’s not that easy, Dix. She has to be willing and open to it and it’s painful, which is why the Reaper’s victims are dying from the trauma. I don’t think she’s ready for that kind of shock right now. Most people who are opened quickly have it done during some type of traumatic experience, and that’s why they don’t realize it—there’s so much adrenaline, it’s over before they know it or feel it.” He paused and searched for the right words to explain. “Most people who practice their powers over time will slowly open the door due to the force of the power itself pushing on the gateway, but that happens over a span of years, not days.” Dix nodded and Gerald remained silent, still wearing a skeptical expression. “Gerald, anything else on the scene?” asked Zach. Gerald shook his head. “Nothing other than we still can’t find him. He’s playing a great game of cat and mouse. As far as we can tell, he hasn’t accessed any of his bank or credit card accounts and hasn’t been home or to work. We should rename this guy the Phantom instead of the Reaper.” “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gerald,” said Dix sarcastically.

“Go out and relieve

Anderson.” The front door clicked open and then slammed closed as Gerald let himself out. Dix’s heavy gaze weighed on Zach, but didn’t raise his eyes to meet it. “Zach, let’s take off the FIBBEE hats and just talk as two best friends for a minute.” Zach gave no response, but only waited—eyes downcast—for his friend to continue. “I haven’t seen you this distracted or upset since Diane died.” Zach’s head whipped up and anger bubbled up inside him, threatening to erupt. “This has nothing to do with Diane.” Dix stared back at him. “Don’t try to bullshit me. I know you better than you know yourself sometimes. This is very much about Diane. You’re having problems dealing with your feelings for

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Cassidy and it’s affecting your ability to conduct a clear-headed investigation.” “How the hell do you know? You haven’t had a relationship as long as I’ve known you. You aren’t exactly an expert in this area. Just let it drop.” His temper bubbled dangerously close to the surface and he hoped Dix heard the unsaid message to back off. He should have known better. Dix never did back down. “Screw you. You’re my friend and as your best friend, it’s my job to tell you when you’re totally full of shit. Like now.” Dix poked Zach in the chest with his forefinger. Zach bolted to his feet, hands fisted at his sides, adrenaline and anger flowing through him like a drug. “Do you want to go a round here, Dix?” he demanded, his blood rushing loudly in his ears. “I’ll wipe the floor with you, you little leprechaun.” Dix matched Zach’s stance and leaned in close. “If you want to have a go right here in your living room, let’s get to it if it’ll make you feel better.” Dix shoved Zach hard and he fought to catch his balance before he stumbled back. He pounced on Dix and they both went down, rolling over the floor. Fists and curses flew as Zach felt Dix’s elbow connect with his solar plexus. As the air rushed out of his lungs, he felt Cassidy reach out to touch his mind and then retreat. At her light touch, all the adrenaline that fueled his anger drained away. Zach lay limply for a moment and suffered a few more punches before Dix figured out he stopped fighting back. “Well, hell, we haven’t had a good brawl in ages and then you go and give up. What’s up with that?” Dix demanded. Zach rolled onto his back and lay staring up at the ceiling fan. “Dix, you said I haven’t been like this since I lost Diane. Did you mean that?” Dix sat back against the front of the sofa and rubbed his jaw where Zach had landed a good right cross. “It’s like you’re reliving it.” Dix looked down at Zach. “Are you in love with her?” Zach tried to hide his shock at the question. “Who?” “Don’t play stupid with me. Are you in love with Cassidy James?” He poked Zach in the side with the toe of his boot. “From the way you two look at each other, I’m surprised it doesn’t leave burn marks on every available surface. It’s one of those looks that makes you think picket fences, two point five kids and a minivan.” Zach realized Dix was right—he and Cassidy had a connection that couldn’t be denied, but he still gave it his best shot. He felt a pull toward her, stronger than the one he felt for Diane, which was part of the guilt that plagued him. Why should he feel more of anything for Cassidy than he did with his

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dead fiancé? Wasn’t that dishonoring her memory in some way? Zach sighed. “I’m trying not to let myself be in love with her.” He looked up at Dix. “Do you think that’s possible?” Dix laughed. “No. I think if it’s meant—it’s meant, but that’s my Irish talking.” He sighed and looked down at Zach. “Now as your boss, I should be kicking your ass for getting personally involved with a witness. But as your friend, I think you should let Diane go and allow yourself to be happy. Because as I always say, ‘If it wasn’t strictly forbidden, it’s probably the best course of action.’” “I don’t know if I can go through losing someone again, Dix. But it’s going to be damned hard to keep my distance from Cassidy and keep her safe. I’ve got to keep teaching her, which means my mind will be open to her and hers to me. I don’t know how long I can resist her without hurting her.” “Stupid bastard,” Dix muttered. Zach sat up. “What?” he demanded. “You heard me.” Dix poked a finger in Zach’s chest for emphasis. “First, just because you let yourself care for someone, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll lose them. Second, if I found someone I knew was right, I wouldn’t be fighting it. Here you’ve found two women in your lifetime who make you feel that way. You lost the first one and have been pining over her so much you’re about to push away the second. God only gives you so many chances to recognize you’re being a dumb ass before he gives his gifts to someone else.” Zach winced, he thought pretty much the same thing himself, but it sounded harsher somehow to have it said aloud. “I’m just going to have to work this out my own way.” Dix nodded. “You got an ice pack? I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a nice shiner along with a sore jaw. You’ve improved since the last time we scuffled.” Zach smiled, he still remembered the last ”scuffle”—the aftermath had caused Dix to redecorate his living room. “Thanks, you always know how to get me out of a good mad.”

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CHAPTER SIX Cassidy closed her eyes and let the music surround her. Playing her cello allowed her to funnel her pent up emotions out the way some people used exercise or drugs. The fingers of her left hand flew over the strings while her right hand expertly guided the bow. All of the sadness, frustration, fear and anger which plagued her over the last few days flowed into the music and out through her cello in the form of a Bach Prelude. Tension collected in her shoulders and neck were magically whisked away, replaced by a sense of well being she only found when transported by her music. Tia’s face, contorted in fear, flashed into her mind and she cursed as she bowed a wrong note when her concentration wavered. How did Zach deal with this, with people dying all around him and most of all the feeling of helplessness that came with not being able to do anything about it? Damn. She wished for the hundredth time she could tell Kathy everything. Talking to Kathy always helped. Ever since college they’d been inseparable and had always been there for each other through the best and the worst. Although she’d never had to tell Kathy she’d been mind-raped and then forced to witness a murder. Somehow she knew her friend would understand and be supportive no matter what. However, she’d promised Zach, and she understood the need for the silence, so she’d do her best to deal with it alone. I’ll just have to figure out a way to protect myself from Brian and get this entire ordeal over quickly. “Wait a minute….” She cocked her head as she remembered something. Zach said her abilities were only half opened. If she had her full powers wouldn’t she be able to better protect herself from Brian? Surely Zach would be able to help her. Once she’d gotten a handle on her emotions, she’d go over and ask him. Cassidy sat up, squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and began to play again. But this time she played no one else’s music—only the notes that poured straight from her heart and out through her fingers. She felt the music in her head and let it flow until the room filled with it. She continued to play, and the music became a living thing. It rose in its fury and anguish like a hurricane ravishing the countryside. She sat in the eye of the storm, like Mother Nature creating unimaginable power with only her two hands. The notes continued to whirl and twist, the vortex tightening and spiraling until the climax and crescendo of the storm of music crashed across the living

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room like lightening. Suddenly, a deadly silence exploded inside the room and hung in the air suspended for what seemed like an eternity—until finally, she pulled the bow across the strings once more. This time the music held sadness with loss and loneliness lacing each ripe note. The tension that previously suffused the room felt heavy and leaden, the notes becoming long and languid. Slower and slower they came until finally on a long low note she removed her bow from the strings and let the last of the sound die away inside the room. Sensing someone behind her, she turned to see Kathy in the doorway with fat tears running unchecked down her pale cheeks. “Cassidy, I’ve never been able to play with that kind of emotion—it was so beautiful.” Her voice a reverent whisper. Self consciously, Cassidy stood and leaned her cello against the wall. Turning the screw on the end of the bow to loosen it, she placed it on the dining room table. She felt empty and hollow like she’d just had a good cleansing crying spell. Cassidy had never been shy about people listening to her play, but this was more intimate somehow, like Kathy had looked into her very soul. And the music had been born of the sadness and helplessness she’d felt last night as Tia slipped into death. Kathy wiped the last of her tears away, careful not to smudge her perfectly applied eyeliner. “What were you playing? I didn’t recognize it.” “I don’t know—I just played. I do that sometimes when life just becomes too much.” Cassidy knew she sounded far away and distant and struggled to bring herself back to the present. Kathy looked shocked. “You wrote that?” “No.” Cassidy shook her head. “I played it. I can’t write anything, but sometimes I can sit down and let the notes come.” She walked across the room and picked up a bag Kathy had set down just inside the door. Kathy followed her. “Cassidy, you should record your sessions and then write those out. It was amazing—you could have a solo touring career with material like that.” Cassidy stopped in mid-motion of reaching into the bag and looked into Kathy’s green eyes, still glistening with tears. “Are you serious? I’m a good cellist, but I’ve never deluded myself into thinking I could compose.” Kathy arched her eyebrow. “What the hell do you call what you just played, if not composing? Just because it flows out and you would have to tape it to capture it again, doesn’t make it any less of a miracle. You should think about it.”

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Cassidy always wanted to compose, but even in her music theory classes in college, she knew she’d never have the knack. She pictured composing as sitting down with a piece of staff paper and writing down notes out of your head—each one carefully selected to fit into the right chord progression, while sounding brilliant and unplanned. What if Kathy was right? What if she taped herself playing and then transcribed the music onto paper later? She’d have to give it some serious thought. Kathy reached past Cassidy and into the bag. “Anyway, since I haven’t been able to talk you into a girl’s night out, I brought the girl’s night out to you.” She pulled a large bottle of Parrot Bay Rum out of the bag and set it on the table. “And for the entertainment, I brought us Mel Gibson, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford or Arnold.” She said the last with an overdone fake accent. Cassidy reached beyond the pain and grinned. Maybe Kathy could help her take her mind off of her troubles. She’d turned down the invitation to go out because Zach wasn’t sure he could keep her safe in an exposed arena without agents surrounding them, which would definitely arouse Kathy’s suspicion. “I say Mel—he’s got a great bare butt shot in that one.” Cassidy held up the DVD and waved it meaningfully. “Good call—I’ll get the Diet Pepsi and limes. You’re the bartender tonight, so all I can say is, pour heavy.” Cassidy sighed and tried to push Tia and Brian and everything else out of her mind, even if only for a few hours. She needed this. Two hours and a bottle of Parrot Bay later, they were watching Mel’s butt shot in slow motion for the hundredth time. “That is the kind of ass I would love to have framed and hung on my wall,” Cassidy slurred. Kathy giggled. “I can think of a lot of things I’d rather do with his ass than frame it—where’s your sense of adventure?” Cassidy considered and paused to study Mel’s anatomy. “I don’t know if I’ve ever really had one.” “Bull. What about BOB?” Cassidy snorted and took another drink, letting the smooth coconut rum roll around on her tongue. “That was different.” BOB stood for Battery Operated Boyfriend, the name she’d given to a blue gel vibrator she’d bought a few years ago in Paris, when she and Kathy were on tour with the symphony. BOB had started

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out as a joke, but she had to admit, she’d had more satisfying dates with BOB in the past few years than she’d had with any flesh and blood man. “I still can’t believe we got kicked out of that coffee shop.” Cassidy smiled at the memory. “I can’t believe you asked the cute French guy if he would give us a live demonstration so we’d know how to use BOB.” “Yeah.” Cassidy sighed and took another drink before continuing. “But how was I supposed to know he was a priest? He wasn’t wearing his collar.” Both women erupted into gales of drunken laughter. ***** “Dix—come on, I need you to help me secure the witness.” Zach stood up from his kitchen table and slapped his friend on the shoulder. Instantly alert, Dix looked up at Zach. “Is she in danger? Is the Reaper back?” Zach motioned Dix to relax. “No. But from the sounds of it, she’s drunk off her ass.” “From the sounds of it?” “Don’t ask—I tuned out after they started talking about Mel Gibson’s ass.” He thought men were bad, but these women had a detailed discussion about the actor’s anatomy like they were discussing a fine piece of art. He wondered if he had been a topic of discussion as well before she’d gotten so drunk she was broadcasting her every thought. “Can I finish my pizza and wings first? And what do you mean ‘they’, who’s over there with her?” Dix asked around a mouthful of hot wings. “Her best friend, Kathy.” Dix stopped with a wing halfway to his mouth. “Wait—do you mean the really hot blonde who visited her the other day while I was doing the cable guy thing?” “Down boy, she’s a friend of the witness—remember?” Dix frantically wiped hot wing sauce off his fingers and inspected his clothes to see if he was wearing any stains. “But, she is not the witness. Besides, I’m hoping she has a thing for red heads.” He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “Okay stud, but I need to get over there to Cassidy. She’s broadcasting loud enough for the whole west coast to hear—including the Reaper.” Dix seemed to have forgotten he didn’t believe in psychic abilities. “I thought you taught her how to put up blocks or shields or whatever you call them.” “I did, but she’s drunk, which lowers the inhibitions and usually the shields.” Zach picked up his

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Glock 9mm off the bar and tucked it into his waistband at the small of his back, pulling his t-shirt over it so it wouldn’t show. The Glock was like his American Express card—he never left home without it. Five minutes later, Zach rang Cassidy’s doorbell and hoped the women heard it over the gales of drunken female laughter. “Cassidy,” he yelled through the door. “Open up, it’s Zach and Dix.” He heard the chain being opened, the deadbolt being unlocked, a thump and then a click, which unlocked the door handle. “Come in.” Cassidy spread each word into two sing-song syllables. Zach opened the door and immediately figured out what the thump had been—Cassidy lay on the floor giggling. “Cassidy, what are you doing down there—are you okay?” He reached down and helped her up. She leaned heavily on him. “Perfectly,” she said with the careful enunciation of the intoxicated. Dix walked over to the couch to look for the second source of giggling. Kathy crawled on her hands and knees diligently searching for her shoes—which Zach noted were still on her feet. Zach heard Dix’s thoughts about Kathy’s mini-skirt and what wonderful things it exposed by riding up. He cleared his throat and looked over at Dix. “Right, I’ll help Kathy up.” Dix pointed to her. Zach struggled to keep Cassidy upright—mostly because she kept leaning over trying to look at his butt. “I bet yours is as good as Mel’s.” Zach ignored the comment. “Why don’t we get you to bed, Cass? I’ll get you some aspirin and a glass of water.” “Are you coming to bed with me?” She twined her arms around his neck and pressed the long line of her body against him. “Come on, Cassidy, I don’t think you’re up for anything like that right now.” He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “You’re drunk and have dropped all your shields and the Reaper and half the neighborhood are probably picking up everything you’re thinking.” Cassidy pulled back, her eyes glistening with unshed tears and pain. He felt like a heel, but his comments seemed to have sobered her better than anything else he could’ve done. “Damn you, Zach. You won’t even let me forget for one night, will you?” She pushed further away from him, anger and hurt making her steadier on her feet. “You’re used to dealing with death and danger and fear and mind rapes and God knows what else, but I’m not. I’m terrified Brian is going to find me and I won’t be able to protect myself, besides the fact I don’t know if I can stand to feel more women die.” She brushed brusquely at her tears with the back of her hand. “And most of all, I feel guilty;

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guilty for being alive while Tia and all the others are dead, and guilty for being glad it wasn’t me.” Zach stepped toward her and took Cassidy in his arms. She melted against him as her tears flowed. “Shhh, it’s okay.” He put his shields up for both of them and fervently hoped neither the Reaper nor Kathy had heard the exchange. From across the room, Zach heard Kathy’s sultry voice. “Cassidy, are you okay?” Zach cuddled Cassidy closer against his chest and looked over at Kathy. “She’ll be okay; the attack is taking a bigger toll on her than she’s willing to admit. I’ll take care of her, I promise.” Kathy, still sitting on the floor, studied Zach’s face and then slowly nodded. “I’ll go so she can get some sleep.” And then, “Hi there, who are you?” She smiled at Dix as he picked her up off the floor. “That’s my friend Dix—he works for Cox Cable,” Zach hastily added and continued to hold Cassidy. Kathy ran her fingers through Dix’s hair. “Red—you’re adorable.” Zach rolled his eyes at the look of puppy adoration on Dix’s face. “Come on ladies—off to bed.” He swept Cassidy into his arms. “Dix, why don’t you bunk Kathy down in the guest room?” Cassidy curled against him like she had the first night he’d carried her inside after the Reaper attacked her. Since he shielded them both, he knew she felt hollowed out and empty. Guilt niggled at him. He’d pulled her away from her temporary escape from the hell of the past few days. She was right—he was much more used to these kinds of things. How had he expected her to deal with them without help? Zach gently laid her on the bed and then went into the bathroom for aspirin and water. When he returned, he sat down next to her and pressed the glass and the pills into her hands. “Here, take these, you’ll be glad you did come morning.” “I’m scared, Zach. Will you stay here with me?” Her hazel and green eyes begged him to say yes. There was no way he could deny her. Zach lay down next to her and pulled her against him, spoon style. His arm tucked around her waist, her head nestled under his chin. “Go to sleep, Cassidy. I can at least promise you one night of peace.” He kissed the top of her head and she curled into him and slept. ***** Cassidy sat in front of a cup of coffee and prayed the Tylenol she’d just downed would kick in soon. She woke to the cast of Riverdance performing endless encores inside her head and reminding her that while she loved Parrot Bay, it only liked her until the next morning.

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Kathy left a few hours ago to go home and try to become human before rehearsals began at nine o’clock. Cassidy hoped she felt more human by then, but at least she was showered and dressed, a feat in itself. Knock. Knock. Cassidy winced. Someone was obviously trying to batter her door down with cannon fire. “You’d better have morphine or breakfast,” she muttered as she walked to the living room to answer the door. Zach stood in the doorway looking perfectly fresh and handsome. “I figured you’d be hurting a bit this morning, so I ran out to get breakfast sandwiches and coffee.” He smiled and handed her a cup. “And, I brought you a large decaf caramel macchiato since we never did get to have dessert after our date.” Cassidy smiled and motioned him inside. Even better, breakfast and dessert… “How’s your head?” Zach asked softly. “It hasn’t exploded yet, but the jury is still out.” She dug a bacon, egg and cheese bagel out of the bag Zach offered. “I want to thank you for staying with me last night. I’m sorry I lost it, I guess everything just backed up on me.” Zach caught her gaze and held it. “There’s no need to apologize, you’ve been through something very traumatic. Your feelings were bound to find an outlet. I’m sorry I wasn’t as sensitive as I could’ve been last night.” Cassidy sighed as she took a drink of the sweet coffee, but not even her favorite drink could lift her mood today. “I know escape is the coward’s way, but it’s hard not being able to talk to Kathy. I feel like my support network has been cut.” Cassidy continued eating and let the silence draw out around them. “Not all of it.” Zach reached out and captured Cassidy’s hand in his, feathering a calloused thumb across the back of her hand. “I’m here for you whenever you need me, and I do understand what you went through.”

Zach closed his eyes and she knew he tried to hold feelings of grief and

helplessness at bay. When he opened his eyes, he met her gaze and his voice sounded strained. “The other night— you felt Tia die and you weren’t even close to her, and never met her.” He looked into her eyes, willing her to understand. “I had a close bond with Diane, built up over time—I felt all of her fear and pain as she died. When the car exploded, I felt the few seconds of searing pain and terror and then nothing—a sudden emptiness that used to be the woman I loved.”

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Cassidy saw the moisture in Zach’s warm golden eyes and waves of his pain break over her. “Zach, I’m so sorry.” Cassidy raised his hand to her lips and brushed a gentle kiss across his knuckles. “Now I can say the same thing to you—since I understand as well. If you need to talk about it, I’m here.” He nodded and let silence fall between them again. Cassidy drank the last of her coffee and pushed the bag of breakfast sandwiches across the table toward him. “I’m done, if you’d like some. And thanks for bringing them over, I feel much better.” She turned to pick up her purse. “Where are you going?” Zach looked pointedly at her purse. “I’ve got rehearsal in an hour, and thanks to you I actually feel human enough to go.” She started toward her cello when Zach’s voice stopped her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” The bottom dropped out of her stomach and her headache and nausea returned, but this time for a different reason. She never thought about being in danger at rehearsals. But surely in such a public place she’d be safe. “There will be eighty people there, I’ll be fine.” Zach stood and took her hands in his. “He can get to you in a room full of people. You’re going to need to take a leave of absence until we get this sorted out.” Cassidy hated the feeling of vulnerability that welled up inside her as she felt the last part of her support network crumble away beneath her feet. Panic sparked her temper and she turned it full force on Zach. “I will not take a leave of absence. This is my job, my career, my life.” Her voice cracked as she fought back tears. She plowed her index finger into his chest. “You’re the secret agent man, you can just figure out how to protect me there.” She knew she was being obstinate and probably not rational, but everything familiar had slipped away and there wasn’t much left. Losing her music on top of everything else was just too much for Zach to ask. Zach’s voice, a soft whisper, grated over her, even as it was meant to comfort. “I’m sorry, Cassidy, I know how much your music means to you.” He met her eyes and the first tear escaped to run slowly down her face. “We can’t protect you there and too many people would have to know about us to make it possible. It’s only for a little while and I promise you, we’ll find him and you can go back to your life.” Her temper deflated like a balloon suddenly popped, she willed herself to be strong and shook

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her head. “My life will never be like it was before.” She turned and walked away. ***** Images suddenly flashed across Cassidy’s vision and she gripped the love seat against a sudden surge of dizziness. Leaning back, she took long, slow breaths to combat the dizziness. The images still flew across her mind’s eye and she had to concentrate to slow them down so she could make some sense out of them. She gasped as she saw Brian. Not again! After an initial moment of shock, she noticed his surroundings. He stood inside the food court at a local mall. “I’ve got to tell Zach.” She shook her head to clear the vision and then raced out her front door, grabbing her keys and purse on the way. ***** As good as his word, Zach waited by the front entrance as Dix and Cassidy arrived. He’d already paced a small trench into the concrete outside the double doors to the mall food court. I shouldn’t have left her alone! Especially after he made her take a leave of absence from work so he could better protect her. Next time he’d stay with Cassidy and ask Dix to go administer the crime scene. Cassidy reached out to touch his mind and he immediately felt the small knot of fear that had lodged in his stomach when Dix called, finally loosen. Before she could open the door to the car, Zach pulled it open and pulled her into his arms. “Are you all right?” He placed a protective arm around her shoulders. Cassidy nodded and leaned into him. “I’m fine. It was strange, Zach, like he didn’t know I was watching. I wasn’t even thinking about him when the vision happened.” Zach’s Nextel chirped and he unclipped it from his belt and answered. “This is Hatcher, go ahead.” Anderson’s voice replied. “We’re in place at the opposite entrance.” “Go in slow and keep your eyes open,” Zach said and opened the door and walked through ahead of Cassidy to shield her. They entered on the bottom floor of the mall since entering from the top would give the Reaper a clear view of them if he was still in the food court. Zach wanted to keep Cassidy as far away from danger as possible. If he could’ve linked to the Reaper without her, she wouldn’t be here at all. Zach opened his senses and tried to see if he could pick the Reaper out of the crowd. “Damn.

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The man is barely psychic enough to register, and there are dozens of people at the mall who fall into that same category.” He heard Cassidy gasp as her hand tightened around his arm. He followed her frightened gaze to the top of the escalator. There he saw August with his eyes narrowed in their direction as he realized they’d found him. August reached the top and disappeared into the crowd. Zach pierced Cassidy with his gaze. “Stay with Dix and keep your shields up, but pay attention if you feel me trying to reach you.” He started for the escalator. He grabbed his Nextel off his belt clip on the run. “Gerald, he’s headed your way off the main escalator, heading East. Anderson, circle around and block him in. Everyone, watch the civilians.” “Zach,” came Dix’s voice. “Cassidy says she can sense him, he’s angry, and he’s feeling trapped and betrayed.” Reaching the top of the escalator, Zach leaned over the side of the glass railing and looked down at Cassidy and Dix. He immediately reached out to her and their minds merged completely. Zach caressed her mind, giving comfort. Then he expanded his focus and through their link, he felt the Reaper’s fear and smoldering jealousy. “I’ve found another of your Achilles’ heels, you bastard. I guarantee she won’t be yours.” He concentrated on the Reaper’s link inside Cassidy’s mind and aimed some thoughts directly at the Reaper. “Not powerful enough to keep track of your women, August? Most men who try to compensate for a lack in the manly department just buy a sports car or get a toupee. Cassidy is mine.” A feral smile crawled across his face as the Reaper’s sudden wall of rage assaulted his shields. It’s working! Zach closed his eyes and reached for the Reaper’s shields. As he’d hoped, the anger caused him to become sloppy. He used the Reaper’s link to Cassidy like a homing device. Eyes closed to see through the Reaper’s eyes, he spoke into the Nextel. “Gerald, right in front of you, and coming up fast.” Zach watched through his link as Gerald pulled his gun from his shoulder holster, only to have the Reaper hit him with a surge of psychic power, causing Gerald’s boneless fingers to drop the gun. Everything suddenly dragged into slow motion. Zach watched helpless as the Reaper—whose gun draw wasn’t impeded—aimed straight at Gerald’s head. “No!” Zach yelled and sent a mental burst of energy through the triangulated mental link. He cursed as the connection broke. Cassidy had pulled away from the Reaper, unable to watch more. And since hers was the main

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connection, he couldn’t maintain it. Later, he’d curse Murphy’s Law that her powers were growing at the wrong moment, but for now, he sent her a quick mental reassurance and sprinted toward Gerald. “Dix!” he growled into the Nextel. “Call an ambulance. Gerald’s been shot and I don’t know how badly. Anderson, he ducked through the service entrance next to the candle shop, he’s headed for the northeast parking lot. Call for backup to see if we can pin him in.” He reached Gerald a few steps later. A bloom of red against his upper right thigh grew before her eyes. He sat on the floor on top of a small pool of blood using his shoulder holster as a makeshift tourniquet. Waves of relief washed through Zach. He hoped Cassidy was relaying the situation to Dix. Zach pulled out his identification and held it up to fend off the mall security who had finally arrived. “FBI, please stand back.” “We lost him,” came Anderson’s angry voice over the Nextel. Zach scowled. “Damn!”

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CHAPTER SEVEN “Hello?” Zach called through the front security door. “Cassidy?” “I’ll be out in a minute. Why don’t you have a seat—I’ll be making us dinner.” Zach smiled. Her abilities had grown as well as her confidence, even if she didn’t realize it yet He only wished she hadn’t severed the connection with the Reaper when they almost had him. But even if she hadn’t mentally disconnected from him, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have gotten away from them anyway. Zach sat down on the black leather sectional he slept on the night Cassidy asked him to stay. He winced—all the sexual dreams and fantasies he entertained about her that night had left a distinct sexual psychic aura on the couch. “Terrific, it will be like adding gasoline to a bonfire.” He shifted as his jeans suddenly became tight and uncomfortable. He immediately moved over to the love seat instead. No sense making his already frustrated sexual state worse on purpose. The love seat was far enough away where he could still sense the aura from the sofa, but at least it wasn’t affecting him physically. He just gotten comfortable when Cassidy walked into the living room. His breath caught at the sight of her. She wore black jeans and cowboy boots with a soft-looking, clingy, green top that matched the green flecks in her eyes. Her shoulder-length auburn hair fell in a soft cascade around her face and brought his attention to her full lips and the wonderful dimple that winked in her cheek. Most women would look casually comfortable in the outfit, but on Cassidy it looked seductive and sexy as hell. His fingers itched to delve into the soft waterfall of hair while he ravished her mouth. Cassidy smiled, causing the sexy-as-hell dimple to wink at him again. “I guess I’ll take that as a compliment since you’re staring at me with your mouth hanging open.” “Uh, sorry.” His mind blank, not sure where to go from here, he groped for something to say. Surely it must be the effects of the sexual aura he’d left on the couch—right? He finally gathered enough brain cells to think of something. “You look…amazing.” Cassidy blushed, which made her look even sexier. Her ability to be totally seductive, yet innocent was a contradiction that kept him in a frenzied state of sexual frustration. She sat down on the sofa and Zach had to fight back a groan as her nipples stiffened to attention under the clingy cloth. Apparently the aura on the sofa affected her too. She shifted uncomfortably for a second, but then cleared her throat. “So, about this morning. I’m sorry I got so upset with you about the leave of absence. So many things have happened in a short period of time, and I haven’t had time to

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get my bearings yet.” Zach couldn’t resist reaching out to take her hand. Instinctively, both of their shields dropped and their minds merged as if they’d been doing it all their lives. Waves of shock registered fully as they realized what they’d done. Cassidy stiffened against him and began to pull away. “Don’t,” he said, refusing to relinquish his grip on her hand. “We need to deal with this. I’m sorry too. I know I’ve sent you lots of mixed messages. I haven’t meant to, I just never expected to find myself in this situation again.” She visibly relaxed and allowed her mind to stay loosely linked with his. “I didn’t mean to pry—I didn’t fully understand.” Her discomfort flowed around him along with the silence.

Mesmerized, he watched her

hardened nipples move enticingly as she took a deep breath and blew it out. “Zach, I’m up here.” When he raised his head, he met her slow smile. He cleared his throat self-consciously as he realized she knew exactly what he’d been watching. “Sorry, it seems I left some sexual psychic aura on your couch the other night—it’s hard to sleep down the hall from you.” Confusion raced across Cassidy’s face, slowly chased away by stunned realization. “I’ve been wondering what happened to me every time I sat on this couch.” She took a firmer grip on his hand and tugged him over to sit beside her. “But as long as it’s here, I’d rather not waste it.” Her voice lowered to a breathy whisper. “Especially if it’s because of me.” As if they’d come together a thousand times before, they sank into each other. He tried to find all the reasons he shouldn’t do this, but she felt too right in his arms. When their lips met, molten fire raced through both of them, via their mind link. Zach gave into his earlier fantasy and combed his fingers through her silky hair, enjoying the cool cascade over his hands. The color of her hair fascinated him, red and brown with hints of several lighter colors which shifted as the light hit. Softer than any fine silk he could ever imagine. He skimmed his mouth over hers, gentle as a summer breeze, erotic enough to make them both gasp. He couldn’t resist dipping inside to taste her when she sighed and opened her lips to him. She tasted hot and sweet under his tongue, a delicacy he could delve into forever and never grow tired. She kissed him back eagerly and explored under his T-shirt with her busy hands. I’ve waited so long to have you in my arms. Zach surprised himself by letting go all his

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inhibitions. Needing her closer, he pulled her onto his lap and cradled her against him. He skimmed lips and tongue along her jaw and then down to the sensitive skin on her neck. She smelled of lavender and some musky scent that must be her perfume mixed with the primal scent of an aroused woman. “God, what are you doing to me?” he heard inside his head. That one innocent statement sent a hot ball of desire shooting through him. At her gasp, he tightened his shields. When she began to protest, he grabbed her shoulders to keep her from moving. “If I don’t pull back now, I won’t make it another minute.” He kissed her again tenderly. “Don’t worry, I’m done running away from you, Cassidy.” She leaned back then and studied his eyes. He watched mesmerized as a mischievous smile stole across her face. “Good.” Then she scrambled his thoughts by turning so she straddled him and they were face to face. He buried his hands in her hair and licked and nibbled a slow line up her long silky neck. She shuddered against him and he groaned at the sexy purr that sounded from somewhere deep in her throat. She leaned her head back in utter surrender and he opened enough to know she floated inside a wave of the sensations pouring through her. Cassidy gasped when he slid his hands under the soft clingy fabric of her shirt to skim over the sensitive skin below. He spanned both hands around her ribcage and used his thumbs to tease the sensitive underside of her breasts. “So soft…” “Touch me, Zach.” Her breathing ragged, her exhales low throaty moans. He finally pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it away. She pulled his off as well and dipped her mouth to his again. They kissed even as his fingers continued to stroke and arouse. He pulled away from the kiss gently and reached forward to unclip the small clasp in the front of her bra. Slipping it open, his groin began to throb as her breasts spilled free in front of his face. He looked up into her stormy eyes, warring between self-consciousness and need. “You’re so beautiful…” She resisted the idea of anyone thinking her beautiful, so before she could object, he opened his link with her so she could feel just how much he meant it. Her eyes rounded with the knowledge that he truly thought her the most beautiful woman in the world. “You humble me, Cassidy. You’re the most amazing and lovely woman inside and out I’ve ever met.” Tears glistened unshed in her eyes. Placing open mouthed kisses down the side of her neck, he continued farther down until he reached her full round breasts. He traced the areola gently with his

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tongue and tiny arrows of pleasure and shock raced through both of them. He left his shields loosely open so she could feel the head of his erection throb and his balls tighten in response to her. She moaned long and low and then called out his name as he took one swollen nipple into his mouth and sucked greedily. He teased with tongue and teeth and reveled when she writhed wantonly against him. She buried her hands in his hair and pulled him close to keep his mouth against her breast. Her skin tasted like heaven, cool and slightly salty. He only pulled back long enough to take the other breast deep into his mouth for the same treatment. Her soft mewling sounds of pleasure sent another geyser of lava through his veins and straight to his aching erection. As if she sensed his need, she ground against him, surprising a strangled moan from his throat, only to be swallowed by her honeyed lips. Before he realized she’d reached between them to unzip his jeans, her long nimble fingers wrapped around him. Through their link he sensed the dripping wetness between her thighs and slowly unzipped her jeans and played his fingers just underneath the lacy fabric of her underwear to tease the top edge where her curls began. Even with his shields closed tight, he strained against the chain of his own control. He struggled with himself not to throw her down and take her on the floor like an animal. Instead, he leaned to the side, trying to lay her back tenderly onto the couch. But she surprised him, dancing away out of his reach. She stood in front of him, her eyes still stormy and dark with desire, tinted with a hint of mischief. She toed off her boots and then using both thumbs slowly slid the jeans over her rounded hips and down her long, slim legs. She only smiled at him as he moaned at the sight of her simple pink bikini underwear. He reached for her, and she evaded his hands. “Off,” she said, pointing to his jeans. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” Zach stood and pulled off his jeans as quickly as he could. “Hmm, a boxer man.” Her voice low and sultry, she stepped out of her own underwear. Zach gasped at the sight of her—totally stunning. He opened his shields so she could truly know his reaction. Her skin was just a shade darker than the silky cream of a redhead with a soft dusting of freckles. Lovely curves just begged to be traced and caressed with hands and tongue. No anorexic model, but a full and sumptuous woman who steadily pushed him past control. She stepped forward to run her hands down his chest and then down further until she pushed his boxers down to pool at his feet. She pressed her body against his swollen erection and the feel of her hot flesh against his broke

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through the last shreds of his hard won control. He captured her tighter against him and plundered her mouth. Reaching down between them, he cupped her and then slipped a single finger into her wetness. When her muscles clamped hard around him, he had to clench his teeth to hold himself back from the brink. “I want you, Zach! Now, please! He pulled her down onto the couch and lowered himself on top of her. Wrapping her arms around him, she kissed him deeply. He opened his mind to join with hers and then slipped slowly inside her wetness. He swallowed her moan—long, low, throaty. Then she arched up to meet him, to take him in fully, her legs scissored around him. Exquisite sensations assaulted both of them as each thrust sent waves of hot liquid pleasure washing through them. They moved as one, and in perfect agreement slowed to savor the moment. Their thoughts tumbled over and around each other until Zach was unsure which thoughts were his. “You’re so tight, so incredibly hot and wet. I could lose myself in you forever.” “Faster, Zach.” The vortex between them tightened further and further, dragging them toward a climax so large it scared them both. The point where the end would normally come passed them by and still they moved together faster, harder, deeper—both frantically seeking their release. Time blurred until they balanced on a sword tip of sensations. Zach thrust into her deep and hard, reveling in the knowledge that she still begged him for more. “I love you!” Zach startled as he realized he wasn’t sure whose thought he still heard ringing inside his head. Zach’s gift reached out to join with hers. His power rose up to meet hers and suddenly a molten flood of pleasure and raw power erupted inside them. Just before he fell over the brink, he realized too late, his power battered against the partially closed door deep inside her mind. He barely had time to gasp as the door to her gift burst open and another orgasm slammed into them in tandem with the wave of fully released power. Cassidy arched against him and clamped so tight around him it hurt. After the world settled, Zach tried briefly to analyze what just happened, but decided there wasn’t enough blood in his brain left to do a proper job of it. “Mmm,” she agreed and snuggled against him.

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He smiled and let the aftershocks of mind-blowing sex play through both of them. ***** As the blood slowly returned to the proper proportions inside her brain, Cassidy became aware of Zach’s comforting weight on top of her, still firmly inside her. She gloried in the closeness of their bond—both physical and psychic. She slowly opened her heavy eyelids and then gasped at the sight that met her. It was as if the entire world had suddenly come into sharper focus, every object outlined in perfect detail. Everything had an almost visible aura, even emotions. Zach carefully rolled off her and cradled her against his side. Visible waves of concern poured off him and he probed her thoughts to make sure she was all right. “I’m okay, Zach…I think.” He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. “Tell me…” She slowly sat up to look around the room. Everything was bathed in a new crisp light and she squinted against the suddenly too bright world. “I’m not sure how.” She closed her eyes and the feeling eased. “As soon as I opened my eyes after…well, after— then everything looked different. Sharper and more well defined, somehow.” Zach sat up and dragged her against him, his dark brows knit together in concern. “I’m sorry, Cassidy, I lost control and I shouldn’t have.” Cassidy pulled back sharply and glared into his eyes. “Are you going to go back to denying us again, Zach? Even after the incredible things we shared?” “No,” he insisted. “That’s not what I meant.” He ran his hands through his already tousled black hair, which caused a glorious array of bare male to be showcased to perfection. Cassidy’s body responded, wanting more of him already. Zach laughed and blew out a relieved breath, earning another dark glare from Cassidy. “At least you’re not mad enough to not want me anymore.” He leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “I meant that right there at the end, I lost control and let my psychic power flow through you. Yours was powerful enough to answer.” She laid a hand on his muscled bare shoulder. “I want to share myself with you fully, Zach. I’m not sorry you lost control,” she insisted. He caressed her cheek with his hand. “I know you do. I do too, which is why it happened, but our combined power opened your powers fully, which I didn’t intend. The trauma could’ve killed you like those other women. I’m just thankful I didn’t hurt you. In fact I was horrified it had, until the

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satisfied ‘mmm’. Relief flowed through her that he wasn’t pulling away again. “If that was hurting me, let’s do it again.” “Cassidy, I’m serious.” He took her chin in his hand. “I’ve never been with someone partially open, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I shouldn’t have lost control and risked you that way.” She grabbed his hand away from her chin. “I’m not some fragile rose. I intended to ask you to open my powers fully anyway. But I knew I’d have to talk you into it. Now it’s moot.” “I would have refused. That’s how the Reaper is killing. He’s forcefully opening the door to their gifts. It’s essentially the same thing I did, but since you were already in an altered state where pleasure and pain blur, I don’t think your body saw it as a trauma.” She let the ramifications percolate through her thoughts. “Wait—the second orgasm. That was the door opening, wasn’t it?” Zach nodded and tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin. “Actually, third orgasm. And exploding would be a more accurate term.” A blush worked its way up her cheeks and she decided to change the subject. “Is this how you see everything? So defined and almost vivid all the time?” Zach’s dark brow furrowed. “I never really thought about it before since I was born with full gifts, but, yes. Whatever you’re experiencing now is what it’s like to be fully psychic.” “It still seems so very surreal.” He rubbed the ends of her hair between his fingers in an absent gesture. “You’re very powerful, Cass. Once you’re trained, you’ll probably be even more powerful than me.” She grinned. “Does that offend your male sensibilities?” “Hell, no.” He picked her up so she sat on top of him. “It’s actually pretty erotic.” “Why erotic?” She laughed at his serious expression. He pulled her against him and began stroking the soft skin on the back of her neck. “Because it means I can fully open my powers with you and I’ll never be afraid of hurting you during sex or any other time—at least psychically.” She nibbled along his jaw line toward his ear so she could whisper to him. “So, because I’m more powerful, does it mean I need to be careful with you?” “Now you’re offending my male sensibilities.”

He grinned, the sexy dent in his chin

mesmerizing her. “I dare you to prove it.” She giggled. “Okay, but how about we try out the bed this time?”

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***** Zach drifted in and out of the hazy dream. Someone called his name, he was sure of it. He started to sit up and only then realized he couldn’t move. Panic surged through him and he began to struggle against his invisible bonds. Vague memories floated up until he remembered he was asleep. He needed to wake up and everything would be fine. The sound of whimpering caught his attention and he found he could turn his head to look. What he saw sent icy tendrils of fear snaking through him. Cassidy lay on her back, naked, with the Reaper kneeling over her. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she seemed to be as unable to move as him. “Cassidy!” “She can’t answer you, Zach,” the Reaper replied inside his head. “She’s still under my power, and you can do nothing to help her.” Panic washed over him at the thought of Cassidy being helpless against the Reaper, and he increased his struggles to break free. “What was it you said to me earlier? Cassidy is yours? You’re wrong, I had her first, and I’ll have her last.” Zach watched helpless as the Reaper slowly caressed Cassidy’s swollen nipples and leaned down to kiss her lips—still swollen from their lovemaking. “You bastard! If you touch her, I’ll kill you! I swear it!” “Enough talking for you,” the Reaper said calmly. Zach tried to yell or even mind speak and found he no longer could. Cold sweat pooled at the back of his neck and nausea roiled inside his stomach. Fear and dread burned through his system like lava. His skin crawled with the knowledge both he and Cassidy were totally in the Reaper’s power. “I can see I should’ve taken her to bed before I tried to kill her. She feels wonderful quivering under my hands. MY hands, Zach, not yours. Mine.” Through Zach’s red haze of anger, despair reached up to swallow him whole. The Reaper, suddenly naked, rolled on top of Cassidy, pinning her arms above her head. In some remote part of Zach’s brain his FBI training calmly recognized it as a position of power, since Cassidy couldn’t move anyway. His head throbbed with thoughts of revenge for the woman he now realized he loved with all his heart. The Reaper turned and met Zach’s gaze as he plunged himself into Cassidy. Her scream echoed around him, but she still seemed unable to do move. The Reaper continued to thrust into her brutally.

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Zach could do nothing but watch as tears born of helplessness rolled slowly down his face. How could I let this happen? I underestimated him—I convinced myself he was weak. How could I have been so wrong? “Zach!” He shook his head. “Cassidy?” “Thank God! The concern and urgency in her voice evident. Wake up; you’re caught in a vision. I’m right here next to you. Do you feel my hand?” Concentrating, he fought off the vision and finally felt Cassidy’s warm grip. “Cassidy?” The vision fogged away, leaving him alone in a sterile white room. “Right here, I’ve got you. Follow me out.” Using Cassidy’s power like a beacon he followed without question. Time flowed over him as he followed the thread of Cassidy’s power for what seemed like hours, but probably only spanned minutes. Finally, the world around him slowly materialized. He lay face up on Cassidy’s bed. She knelt beside him holding his hand and stroking his hair. He took a deep breath and risked opening his eyes. Relief flowed through him as Cassidy’s face filled his vision. “Did he hurt you?” He pulled her into his arms. “Please tell me none of what I saw, happened.” He said a silent prayer, fearing her answer. “He didn’t even contact me, I’m fine.” She turned and took his chin in her hand. “He never touched me.” Zach let out a deep breath of relief and just held her tight. Cassidy stroked his hair and rocked him slowly while he fought to regain his equilibrium. ***** Cassidy cradled Zach in her arms. He trembled and held her tightly. It humbled her that he trusted her enough to let her see him at his most vulnerable. She’d tried to reach out to him when she realized Brian had caught him in a vision. He’d yelled her name inside her head, which woke her, but she’d been unable to reach him or to wake him. It seemed like the Reaper managed to block him from hearing her somehow, but he didn’t block her from hearing Zach. Cassidy shuddered at the scene Zach had to watch. Thankful the events weren’t real, her skin crawled at the very thought of Brian touching her at all, let alone physically raping her. A chill skittered up her spine. She tried hard to reach Zach inside the vision, but even with her new power, she felt like a child playing with a blowtorch. Not quite sure how to use it correctly. But I swear I’ll learn.

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Zach pulled away from Cassidy’s embrace and laid his forehead against hers. “Thanks.” “Are you all right?” she asked, unsure of what else to say. Zach kissed her and then nodded. “I’m okay. I just thought… I couldn’t stand the thought of not being able to protect you.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Cassidy ran her hand up and down his arm in a comforting gesture. “I know. I could see through my link with you what you thought.” Zach’s head snapped up and he looked at Cassidy in horror. “You saw that?” His eyes haunted, he searched her gaze. “Oh, Cass, I’m so sorry. It tore me up inside to watch him hurting you, and I was helpless to do anything about it. “I know—I felt it.” She paused and then reached out with her arms and her mind to hold him. “And for what it’s worth—I love you too.” Zach held her tighter and inhaled the lavender scent of her hair. “I’m the luckiest man alive to have earned your love, but it also makes both of us more vulnerable to him, and for that I’m truly sorry. We just need to figure out how he did this, so it never happens again.” Cassidy pulled away and stood. “Where are you going?” “I’m going to get us both a shot of whiskey to calm the nerves, and then you are going to cook us some dinner and we’re going to figure out what happened.” Zach, comfortable with his nudity stood up and grabbed her waist. “What happened to you cooking dinner for me?” “I’ve decided I don’t want to poison you with my cooking after all.” He couldn’t help but laugh at her sly grin. “Besides, that offer expired about eight hours ago.”

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CHAPTER NINE The Reaper sat on the bed of his hotel room trembling with rage. “How dare they break through my vision! That insolent whore has no right to try and make a fool of me!” He longed to throw something or better yet, kill someone to take the edge off his rage, but some rational part of his mind reminded him it would be careless and get him caught. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself his power would come in time. Each time he killed, he took their pitiful gifts inside himself, knowing he would one day dominate the psychic world. They should appreciate him liberating them from their pitiful lives, their useless existences, but he knew none of them understood. They struggled against him and only heightened his victory. And if it gave him an erection just thinking about controlling and dominating the women he liberated, it was his right. “It’s survival of the fittest, after all, and I’m most definitely the fittest. No, he couldn’t get caught, it would only serve to prove his parents right. They never missed an opportunity to call him stupid and useless. He refused to prove them right. The memories of the day they died still haunted him. The way his father laughed at him right up until the knife pierced his flesh. I could never live up to their expectations as a psychic or as a son. They even stooped so low as to offer him a position managing their careers. “Hah! Like I wanted to be their lackey for the rest of my life. By birthright I should be the most powerful psychic the world has ever seen!” He clamped his hands over his ears as his parent’s laughter taunted him from beyond the grave. “Stop it! I already killed you! Leave me alone!” He sat on the bed rocking back and forth. The volume of the laughter increased and his father’s voice echoed inside his head. “You’ll never amount to anything as a psychic, you need to face reality and come to terms with being what you are.” He remembered hearing the implied “nothing” at the end of the sentence. He enjoyed the way the knife bit into his father’s larynx as he’d plunged it through his neck. The hot blood spurted against his hands and only a small spark of psychic power remained alive deep inside his father. It had been so easy! He’d reached inside his father’s mind and mercilessly smothered the small spark before his father had time to react and warn his mother. His father hadn’t even tried to shield from him, he’d been so shocked his only son would betray him. Then he waited until his mother returned home. She feared both her husband and son were dead when she lost connection with both at the same time. He calmly approached her and slipped a blade

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through the heart. Right before he felt her shudder and fall to the ground, he saw the raw desire in her eyes, begging him to finally give her what he’d dreamed of since childhood. The ripe thrill of orgasm had thundered through him as he plunged the knife into her chest again and again. A picture of her torn breasts wet with blood and her slack mouth and staring eyes flashed across his memory, causing him to harden uncomfortably. Loosening his zipper he slid his hand inside his pants to stroke himself absently. Too bad mother never understood me. He stroked faster as he mused. His father had always been between, though he never deserved her. Society may not have understood, but he could have been the only man his mother ever needed. Shrill laughter bubbled up through him and filled the room. “Now look at me, Dad. I’m more powerful than you ever were!

I’ve learned how to have the ultimate power—the power to take

someone’s life and their psychic gifts at the same time.” His head snapped up as he heard his father’s mocking laughter again. “No. That’s only a minor setback. She will pay for humiliating me and so will the FBI agent.” He shook his head as a picture of Cassidy imposed itself over the vision of his dead mother. He hardened further at the sight of Cassidy with torn breasts wet with blood. A twisted smile crawled across his face. “I understand now. But this time, I’ll fuck her while she dies. She will scream my name as she gasps for her last breath.” He stroked himself faster, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “We’ll be together like we always should have, Mother. You’ll see.” ***** “So, what do you think?”

Zach ushered Cassidy inside his temporary office at the FBI

headquarters in downtown Phoenix. Cassidy glanced around at the drab grey walls and matching cubicles. It looked like any other office building. There were even bored-looking men in loosened ties gossiping around aging vending machines. “Well, frankly I’m disappointed. I’m not sure what I expected, but this isn’t it.” Zach gestured to a chair next to a small conference table. “Have a seat.” He took a sweat next to her. So, let me guess, you pictured guys in dark suits with ear pieces stationed at every entrance and elevator with their hands poised over their side arms?” Cassidy laughed. “No, nothing quite that elaborate. I guess I pictured you guys as a cross between Clear and Present Danger with some Men in Black tossed in.”

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“Harrison Ford played a CIA guy, not FBI. Besides, most of our actual work is done in this boring-looking office setting.” He smiled over at her. “By the way, you got an interim security clearance while they finish processing your actual clearance, but you cleared for ‘Secret’ level information.” “So does that mean I have a backup job if I ever decide to quit the symphony?” Zach looked over at her seriously. “I know you were kidding, but you could. The FBI can always use someone with psychic powers. They frown on anything but cold hard facts and there is considerable bigotry around it, but they actually recruited me for my gifts.” Cassidy glanced over at him. He’d never shared his background with her before. “How did they even know you had them?” “My mother is a practicing psychic. She mentors growing psychics in several areas. An FBI recruiter contacted her and asked for the name of her most powerful student—she referred him to me.” Zach shrugged. “He really wanted me for field work, but I’ve always been fascinated by profiling. And to be honest—my skills are more in line with that field anyway.” “So your mother is a mentor?” Cassidy asked. At Zach’s nod, she continued with a sly smile. “So, if I called her up and asked her to teach me, she would?” Zach laughed, twirling his pen between his fingers. “Definitely. I was her most powerful student to date, but as I said, once you’re fully trained, you’ll be more powerful than me and possibly even my mother.” It still surprised her to suddenly be considered a powerful psychic. She only knew enough about her powers to be dangerous and unpredictable. “So.” She gestured around the room effectively changing the subject. “Where do we start?” Zach pointed to a stack of files. “You can start by reading these and giving me the Reader’s Digest version when you’re done. I’m going to do some online research about his parent’s careers.” She studied the dusty stack of manila folders before meeting his amused gaze. “Why did we have to come all the way down here to research on the internet, we could’ve done that from my office at home.” Zach smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “Because from here I have access to all kinds of records and databases you could never access from your house—even if you were a top notch hacker.” “Ahh. Makes sense, but you have to provide the munchies and Diet Pepsi.” Zach smiled. “Such a demanding woman.”

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***** Three Diet Pepsis and two Milky Way’s later; Cassidy looked up at Zach. “Zach, look what I found.” Zach rubbed at his eyes and walked around the table to look over her shoulder. “What do you have?” She slid the folder to the side so Zach could see it. “It’s an article published by Brian’s parents about one of their forms of rehabilitation therapy using psychic means. It talks about having a psychic use a subject’s fears and self-imposed limitations as teaching tools to allow the subject to find a way to overcome their inner issues.” She glanced over her shoulder into Zach’s cognac eyes. “Apparently, they wrote several papers on the subject and successfully rehabilitated several criminals using this therapy. There are journals, lab records, and even guidelines for other psychics to be able to reproduce their work.” “I’ll be damned.” Zach reached for the folder. “Let me see that.” Zach scanned the file and Cassidy stood up to stretch her cramped muscles. “Of course.” Zach pounded his fist on the desk, startling her. “I should have recognized it. He used my own psychic patterns. I didn’t bother to analyze the psychic auras on the restraints.” He looked up at Cassidy with fresh anger smoldering in his eyes. “We were right, the bastard used my own fears and even my own power to restrain me—and I let him.” “But now that we are prepared, he won’t be able to fool you the same way twice,” Cassidy reminded him. “True.” Zach nodded grudgingly. “And I also found a note in the report from the officer who processed the parent’s murder scene. He said the room felt very oppressive when he arrived, and several of his men—police veterans—were very skittish on the scene and left as soon as possible. A few even got sick—that’s very uncharacteristic.” “I don’t understand, what does that tell us?” “It tells us some of those men were sensitive to the psychic aura and trauma. When someone with gifts dies it leaves a distinct aura. When someone with gifts kills, it leaves a very distinct aura. It takes energy to use the gift and that energy leaves a residue where the actions can be traced. And most of the time, that type of aura will cause people who are sensitive—even a little—to react negatively. You know, hair on the back of the neck standing up, feelings of uneasiness, and the gut feeling that tells you to get the hell out of there. “And since they were both stabbed at close range, an hour apart—I’ll bet it was by someone they

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thought they could trust.” “Like their only son?” “Yeah, exactly my thoughts.” Zach picked up his soda and drank deep. “We are dealing with one sick son of a bitch.” “You just now figured that out? Way to go, Secret Agent Man,” Cassidy said sarcastically. Zach captured her hand and lifted it to his lips. “You know, you’re the only woman I’ve ever let get away with calling me some stupid pet name.” “You love it—even though I didn’t start out meaning it as an endearment.” Cassidy downed the last of her Diet Pepsi. “Hey, remember when you told me about my gifts, and you said there are different types of powers? Well, what kind of powers did Brian’s parents have?” Zach pulled a file across the table and opened it. “From what I can tell, the mother had strong empathic and remote viewing powers. She could touch something the missing person owned and see what happened to them or pick up emotional energy.

The father’s specialty fell in psychic

communication—mind to mind—as well as thought implantation, which is why he was good at rehabilitation therapy.” “Wait, you mean he could put thoughts in people’s minds?” Cassidy tried to grasp the concept, but her mind wouldn’t wrap around it. Zach nodded. “It’s not very difficult. If I met you a week ago, I could have said something softly inside your head and you might have mistaken it for your own thought. Some people are more susceptible than others, but criminal minds are usually paranoid enough to take every thought that floats across their radar seriously. Of course, that is a rather large generalization.” “So, what flavor of powers do you and your mother have?” Zach leaned back in his chair. “I’m very strong with mind to mind communication, and have some empathic talents. I also have gifts in the thought implantation arena, but since I struggle with the ethics of those actions, I don’t use them. I can also physically affect someone else.” Cassidy smirked; she still remembered quite well how he had physically affected her—several times—last night. “Smart aleck.” He grinned at her. “That’s not what I meant. When I sent a psychic bolt of energy through the Reaper so he missed shooting Gerald in the head, that’s an example of how I can physically affect people. As for last night, psychic powers only enhanced that.” Fascinated with this new information about his abilities, Cassidy pushed on. “What about your mom?”

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“Mom is a terrific general psychic. She has a little power in all areas, but large amounts in healing and empathy, which makes her a great mentor. She also has the patience of a saint.” Cassidy decided to probe him more about his mother later. “So, what kind of gifts do I have?” Zach considered her, leaning back in his chair. “Well, you are obviously adept at mind to mind communication. Only one person really needs to be to make it work minimally, but since both of us are strong in that area as well as empathy, it does make physical relations rather intense.” Cassidy’s blush burned hot against her cheeks. “What else?” She ignored his knowing chuckle. “You also have some remote viewing talent. You haven’t seen anything in the future yet, but you get vivid pictures of the present, so it’s very possible you could get past and future as well. Then there is the talent for phantom touch.” The last comment he added quickly. “Phantom touch, what’s that?” Zach propped his feet up on the chair next to him and leaned back lacing his fingers behind his head. “The morning I was cooking you breakfast you were having some very vivid sexual dreams about me.” “How did you know that?” Her mind whirled as she searched for how he knew about her dream. “Did you tap into my dreams?” Zach laughed. “Not exactly. I was baking biscuits when I felt a very persistent and busy mouth giving me a pretty competent blow job.” The knowledge of what happened shot through her like a laser. “Oh my God, I gave you a phantom blow job?” She giggled, half horrified, half amused. “Hey, not so loud. These guys live for gossip.” Zach dropped his feet and arms and looked around to make sure no one heard her. Cassidy laughed at herself. “I thought I was having a torrid fantasy about my dream man and I psychically acted some of it out. I’ll definitely need to do some more practice with phantom touch.” “You would think it was your best power. You never cease to amaze me, Cassidy James.” ***** Cassidy sighed and put her feet up on her coffee table. She’d stared at files, computer screens, dossiers and God knows what else until she thought her eyeballs would dry up, fall out and roll around on the floor. Amazing how much paper and record space the FBI devoted to infinite details about so many lives. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “None of that.” Zach came through the front door with Kathy and Dix. “I found these two out front and invited them in for dinner.”

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Cassidy smiled, it seemed very domestic and homey to have Zach say he invited people in for dinner. I could get used to this. She stood up exchanging pleasantries, gave Kathy a hug and kissed Dix on the cheek. “Come on in, guys, it’s going to be ten finger gourmet, but you’re welcome.” She gestured everyone into chairs and then sat back down heavily and plopped her feet up on the coffee table again. A crease formed between Dix’s red brows. “Ten finger gourmet? I’m going to be sorry I asked, but what the hell is that?” Kathy laughed and laid a hand on Dix’s arm. “That is my best friend’s favorite cooking style. You pick up the phone, punch in ten numbers with a single finger and someone magically brings prepared delicacies to your door.” Dix threw back his head and laughed. “Marry me, Cassidy, you’re a woman after my own heart.” Dix slid off the couch, dropped to one knee and dramatically kissed Cassidy’s hand. “So many men, so little time.” She fanned herself with her hand. “She’s already taken, Dix, go find your own.” Zach took Cassidy’s hand from Dix and shooed him away to sit on the couch. Cassidy smothered another yawn. “The menu drawer is in the end table by you, Dix, choose your poison.” Suddenly a sharp pain sliced its way down Cassidy’s arm. She slapped a hand to the wound and yelped. Nausea gripped her and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to fight it off. She could feel the hot blood drip down her arm and she continued taking deep breaths to keep from passing out due to the pain. “Cassidy?” she heard from three concerned voices. “Talk to me, Cass.” Zach touched her cheek. She opened her eyes gingerly and looked down at her arm. Whole and healthy, but pain still radiated through her, the phantom blood ran hot along her arm. She met Zach’s eyes. “I felt a sharp pain, like someone cutting my arm with a knife, and I can still feel the blood running down my arm.” Kathy ran her hand over Cassidy’s hair. “Are you all right?” Waves of concern flowed off her like water. Cassidy nodded and then screamed as another sharp pain sliced down her thigh and cut deep. “Cassidy!” Kathy yelled. Cassidy floated with the pain and tried to breathe. This isn’t my pain. She hoped by saying it,

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her body would believe it. Somewhere, right now, Brian is doing this to another woman. How can anyone be so sick they can do this to another human being? “Dix, get Kathy a drink and start explaining things to her. All her concern and worry are beating against Cassidy and she needs to concentrate right now.” Zach held her hand in his. “I’m okay, Zach.” At least I think I am. She kept her eyes rightly closed. “He’s cutting someone. I’m not in a vision this time, but I think I’m going to be sick.” Zach took both her hands. “Listen to me.” His voice firm, it commanded compliance. “You won’t be sick, this is just like the first night he attacked you—you’ll feel nauseous, but you’ll be fine. Just breathe.” He ran his hand gently over her hair and kissed her forehead. “You have to drop your shields and let me in. Every time you panic, you close them tight against everyone—that’s probably why he can only let you feel the pain and not the entire vision. I’ll be with you, I promise.” Fear flowed through her like a heady wine. She’d seen how much power she wielded as well as Zach’s. She knew he would protect her at all costs, and yet a small niggling of doubt still nagged her. But if I don’t try and another woman dies, I won’t be able to live with myself. She sighed and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll drop them, but please don’t leave me.” She held onto his hand in a tight grip. “I’m right here.” Cassidy gingerly lowered her shields degree by degree until the vision came into fuzzy focus. Brian stood in a nondescript room with grey carpet, closed grey drapes and a simple bed staring down at a naked blonde woman tied to the bed, face up. Spread eagled, each arm and leg secured to a different corner, a small broken heart tattoo was visible on the woman’s hip. Her arm and her thigh were bleeding and her whimpers sounded even through the gag stuffed in her mouth. Brian turned to face her. “Cassidy, I knew you’d come. I would have saved this for you, but your time will come.” She shuddered even as Zach reassured her deep inside her mind. Along the pathway only she and Zach shared, he whispered to her. “Keep him talking while I try and figure out where they are.” Brian leaned over the woman on the bed and traced the wound running along her thigh and then raised his finger to his lips. “She’s mine, just as you are, Cassidy.” He licked the blood from his finger, an evil smile stealing across his face. She thought frantically, trying to figure out a way to keep him from hurting her. “Brian, you don’t need to do this. Why hurt these women? They haven’t done anything to you.” She reached into her mind to find Zach frantically searching for clues in the barren room. “Because I can… Don’t you see? Every woman I kill adds to my own psychic power.” He

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gestured wildly with the knife. “When they die, they transfer their power to me. One day I’ll have as much power as is my birthright.” Brian’s eyes took on a glassy faraway look as if he were looking at something no one else could see. “And then my parents will stop laughing—forever.” Cassidy jumped. Brian had killed his parents and now acted out some childhood issue. “Brian, you can’t do this. You aren’t gaining their power; you’re only killing them needlessly. You’re parents are already gone.” She took a deep breath and prepared to test out her reasoning. “You killed them— remember?” He jerked back like he’d been struck, his face contorted with rage. “I killed them, but they won’t die! They keep laughing at me, Cassidy. And until I gather all the power I should have been born with, they will keep on laughing and tormenting me! Don’t you see?” His voice rose with his fury and anguish. Cassidy whispered to Zach. “Do something. Affect him physically or whatever it is you do, he’s going to kill her!” “It doesn’t work like that. I’ll do what I can.” Brian turned and plunged the knife deep into the woman’s shoulder. As the sharp pain arrowed through Cassidy, she and the woman screamed in unison—the woman’s cries muffled by the gag. Cassidy’s rage rose up to swallow her. I refuse to be helpless anymore. I’ve got powers; it’s time to see what they can do. She took a deep breath and concentrated on the Reaper’s hand. She willed him to drop the knife with all her might. The hand holding the knife became her total focus. Seconds passed, but nothing happened except Brian continued to grind the knife inside the wound to cause more pain. Hot tears stung her eyes. She met Brian’s wild gaze as he turned to her. “You’re wrong—you’ll see! Now, I’ll take what’s mine!” Brian leaned over the wounded woman, fondling her breast and reached into her mind. The familiar white-hot pain seared into Cassidy’s head.

Frustration poured through her,

followed closely by anger. Without thinking, she opened her link to Brian fully and let her anger, fear and frustration pour down the link between them like a tidal wave. Much to her shock, Brian dropped to the floor, his hands over his ears and began to scream high and thin. “Nooooooo!” The link between the woman and Brian broke before dark spots encroached on her vision and Cassidy slipped into blackness.

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CHAPTER TEN Cassidy woke with a splitting headache—the insides of her head raw and tender. Terrific, this day just keeps getting better and better. Sighing, she gingerly opened her eyes. Her room, dark and silent around her gave some comfort and she cuddled farther under her quilt. Must’ve been out for quite some time. She turned to glance at her alarm clock and her aching head protested loudly. Worse than any hangover I’ve ever had. “And no Parrot Bay to blame this time.” Her voice came out as a dry croak. The glowing numbers on her clock read two forty-five. She was optimistic enough to assume she’d only been asleep a few hours and not an entire day or more. The room spun frantically as she sat up, so she lowered herself back down onto the bed and let out a self-indulgent moan. “Terrific.” She closed her eyes until the room steadied. “Just terrific.” She saw a sliver of light through her closed eyelids, but she still didn’t dare open them. “Hi there, stranger.” Kathy’s voice sounded out of the darkness. “How are you feeling?” “I felt better after my brief affair with Parrot Bay the other night.” Kathy laughed. “Well, if your sarcasm is alive and well, I’m done worrying about you.” “Where is everyone?” Cassidy asked, her throat dry and tight like she’d been screaming—and maybe she had. “Zach is making more coffee, he hasn’t been to sleep yet, he’s been busy shielding you.” Kathy paused. “That’s the right word—shielding—isn’t it?” Cassidy risked cracking open her eyes. She could just make out Kathy’s face in the light seeping in from the door Kathy left ajar. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you, Kath.” Kathy smoothed Cassidy’s hair away from her face. “Don’t apologize, you couldn’t tell me. I totally understand. Although I admit, I raked both of them over the coals for separating you from your entire support network in one fell swoop. But then they are men—so what do you expect?” Cassidy held onto Kathy’s hand. “I’ve missed being able to confide in you.” A familiar sense of comfort emanated from her friend. Kathy chuckled. “No time like the present. I’m here for as long as you need me. You’re the closest thing I’ve got to family, kiddo, and you scared the hell out of me.” Cassidy heard the tears in Kathy’s voice and reached out mentally to comfort her. Kathy had been closer to her than most of her family as well, and she’d rather die than cause her tears. “Well, other than being psychically attacked and stalked, I have the most amazing sex to tell you about. Maybe we

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should break out the Parrot Bay again.” Kathy laughed as she’d hoped. “Isn’t anything sacred?” Zach stood in the doorway an amused glint in his eye, a frown curving his lips. “No.” Kathy stood up to make room for Zach. “After everything you men put her through, it serves you right.” Kathy’s voice held obvious affection for Zach. Kathy must have gotten to know Zach and Dix pretty well while I slept. Kathy, notorious for being a great judge of character, tamed the Secret Agent men. Zach sat down beside Cassidy and took her hand in his. “This woman has been grilling us for hours about every last detail. I don’t know how you put up with her.” Kathy lightly punched Zach in the shoulder. “True, but I don’t remember hearing about any really amazing sex. You’ve been holding out on me.” Zach cleared his throat self-consciously as Cassidy and Kathy giggled over his discomfort. “Why don’t you get our invalid some aspirin?” Zach pierced Kathy with a mock glare. Kathy’s low sultry laugh flowed back to them as she walked out of the room. “Zach, what happened?” Cassidy turned her attention to Zach. “Have you found her yet?” Zach gently probed Cassidy’s mind and jumped when she winced. “Sorry, I know you’re still sore, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You tried to do too much too soon and it overloaded your system.” “What exactly did I do?” Zach leaned down to kiss her lightly before answering. “One of your gifts is empathy, coupled with your kick-ass aptitude. You took all the pain and fear he caused both you and the woman and funneled it back at him so he felt it full blast. When it became too much for him, he broke the connection with her and tried futilely to shield from you when you blacked out. With such a large blast, you may have caused him some permanent damage.” Cassidy took a moment to digest everything Zach said. How did I do that? And will I be able to figure out how to do it again if I want to? She puffed out a breath that fluttered her hair. Zach joined with her mind loosely, and his fear and concern flowed around her. “Don’t worry about it. You’re powers are growing and they’ll continue to grow, and someday you’ll even be able to summon them at will. Just give it time.” He brushed her hair away from her face. “As far as the girl, we’re still looking for her. I couldn’t get any information out of the room—which is the way he planned it. We know she’s blonde

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and has a small broken heart tattoo on her hip, but there’s no tattoo database, so it’s no help.” Cassidy heard the anger lacing Zach’s voice and she kissed the back of his hand. “He may be psychically injured, but he’s smart. Which unfortunately means, it will be tougher for you to catch him—right?” Zach only nodded and reached down to kiss her gently. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, Cassidy. He doesn’t have a strong enough psychic signal to home in on, but he’s learned well from his parent’s tools. He can only find you because your psychic signal is so strong. Hell, it’s like the difference between searching for a spotlight and a firefly on a moonless night”. Cassidy remembered her failed attempt to stop Brian from hurting the woman—hot tears welled up and hovered in her eyes before streaming down her face. “I tried to physically affect him like you did at the mall—I couldn’t.” She let down her guard and curled into Zach’s comforting arms and let the tears flow. Helplessness and images of the wounded woman haunted her. “That’s not your brand of talent, Cass. You were able to hurt him. We don’t know how badly yet, but you definitely hurt him.” She burrowed tighter against his chest and took a few deep breaths. “But what did I accomplish? He’s probably so out of control and angry he killed her anyway.” At Zach’s silence, the tears returned in force. Zach rocked her gently against his chest and kissed her hair. “We don’t know anything yet, but we’re still looking.” Pain and grief for a nameless woman flowed through her as well as the bitter metallic taste of fear. She let Zach’s strength seep into her and slowly the tears stopped, leaving her empty and hollow. She sniffed and a familiar presence intruded on her grief. “It’s okay, Kathy, you can stop hiding out there, but I don’t really think I need the sleeping pill.” Kathy’s shock traveled across the room in psychic waves. “Well, now that you can read minds you’re really going to be a pain in the ass, aren’t you?” Kathy entered the room and smiled down at them. She handed Cassidy the pills and a glass of water. “Take them anyway. From what I understand, Brian, or the Reaper, or whatever I’m supposed to call him, can’t contact you when you’ve put your subconscious to sleep with these. Besides Zach can’t continue to shield you until he gets some sleep too.” Kathy took a breath and turned her steely gaze on Zach. “Why don’t you both take some and get some sleep? Dix and I will keep tabs on the outside world for you.” Kathy handed Zach a set of pills and gave them both an arch look as if defying them to argue.

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Zach laughed at her declaration. “And you think Cass is a pain in the ass?” Kathy crossed her arms over her chest and glared until Zach dutifully swallowed the pills and then waited until Cassidy did the same. Cassidy pulled him down beside her on the bed and curled against him. “Good.” Kathy arranged the quilt over both of them and then left closing the door behind her. “Zach?” Cassidy voice sounded muffled against his chest. “When we wake up, you need to teach me how to contact him.” “Go to sleep.” Zach’s voice sounded weary. “We’ll argue about it later.” ***** Zach awoke groggy and hungry. Cassidy spooned against his back with her arm flung over his waist—their hands still clasped together.

The light from the window played patterns across the

bedspread and he basked in her comforting warmth. He almost burrowed back down into the covers for more sleep, but being this groggy gnawed at him. He hated waking up after taking any kind of sleep aid. True, he always got the sleep he needed, but it took a few minutes to throw off the effects so his gift would function fully. Those few minutes were always disorienting—almost like waking up blind. He reached out mentally to connect with Cassidy and realized she was awake and just as groggy and hungry, but at least she seemed rested and safe. “Good morning.” Her voice, thick with sleep, sent desire spiraling through him. Zach rolled over and pulled her into his arms. “Good morning yourself.” He could smell the lavender in the shampoo she used and remnants of the musky mysterious scent she always wore. He breathed deeply as if to imprint her permanently into his senses. “I could get used to waking up like this, you know.” Cassidy smiled and traced a line down to his waistband with her index finger. “I could too, but I would hope we wouldn’t always go to bed fully clothed.” Blood rushed away from Zach’s brain to pool in his groin. “Agreed, we’ll always sleep nude.” He rolled over and pulled her on top of him. “But for today, we’ll have to wing it.” Her hair rumpled, her eyes large and slumberous, she looked more sexy and alluring than any fantasy girl he’d ever envisioned. He watched in mounting agony as she slowly unbuttoned her shirt with a sultry grin on her face. The ceiling fan teased the drapes causing shifting bands of light to play across her beautiful pale skin. His breath caught in the back of his throat at the sight of her. Zach reached up to catch her

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hands. “No. Let me.” He gently pulled her down next to him and sat up so he could continue to unbutton her shirt. He took his time and kissed each newly bared spot before opening the next button. “You know, Kathy and Dix are out in the living room—right?” Her voice sounded husky and her eyes were glazed with desire. He sensed Dix and Kathy as soon as he woke, but right now his thoughts had nothing to do with either of them. He smiled against Cassidy’s stomach and ran his tongue along the waistband of her jeans. She gasped and writhed under his hands. He loved distracting her. “We may not have time for long and leisurely today, Zach.” He smiled at her unsteady words. Zach connected with her mind. “I want a little time for just you and I before the rest of the world’s reality intrudes on us. I need you Cassidy, let me make love to you.” Her rush of emotions battered against his own. This was love, pure love like he’d always envied between his parents. It shamed him to admit it, but he’d never felt it before. What he’d felt with Diane paled in comparison to the emotions that overwhelmed them him now. Liberating and terrifying all at once, the knowledge Cassidy loved him too stunned him to the core. Her emotions ran rich and hot, buzzing along his skin, making him giddy with desire. Leaning on his elbow, he looked down into her eyes, gone dark with desire. “I love you, Cassidy.” They were past words now, but he had to give them to her, had to give her his entire self. All that mattered now was the woman he held in his arms—the woman he loved with his entire heart, mind and soul. She’s mine. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe. “You’re trembling.” Cassidy’s puzzled expression met his as she pulled him down next to her. Their lips met slowly, tenderly, silencing her. Their lovemaking borne of caring and sparked with smoldering passion. She sighed against him, and he caressed her cheek and traced her jaw line. By mutual consent they slowed their pace to enjoy each other to the fullest, and time played out suspended around them. Zach let the taste of her infuse his senses. He buried himself in the dark, exotic flavors that were distinctly hers. His mind fully linked with hers, surprise flowed through him to find her enjoying the tastes and textures she associated purely with him. Her mouth hot and drugging, her skin soft and supple, he traced every inch with hand, finger, mouth or tongue trying to memorize her fully. The sensitive underside of her breasts tasted smooth and silky and the small spot at the back of her neck begged to be explored and exploited. He reveled in every gasp and moan wrenched from deep inside her throat, and felt her feminine triumph when she caused him to issue his own involuntary sounds of passion. A groan ripped from his

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throat when she straddled him and impaled herself on top of him, one slow inch at a time until he filled her completely. Their lips met—their bodies still joined. Cassidy began to move on top of him in a leisurely pace that tormented them both. She looked like a pale goddess riding him with slow abandon. The light caught the red and gold in her hair, and it sparkled like flames. He watched mesmerized and with growing need as her full, round breasts moved enticingly in front of his face. She leaned over him as she rode to tease his lips with her own. Her velvety nipples grazed his chest as she moved on top of him, and he enjoyed the way she gasped as the sensitive tips dragged across his chest hair. She coiled slowly tighter around him and he took her round bottom in both hands and pulled her firmly against him so each thrust impaled her fully. Buried deep inside her, he had to hold himself back from the brink when she changed the angle suddenly and his tip began to rub against the deep back wall of her center. Cassidy kept her pace slow and even, tormenting him. He knew she held back to prolong this time for both of them, even while she coiled ever tighter around him increasing the friction and the sensations shooting through him like electric shocks. Both their bodies cried out, begging for release, and still she fought against the end to let the culmination build higher and higher. Zach raised his head, took her nipple into his mouth, and began to suck and nibble as she rode him. He squeezed the other between two fingers and heard her moan low and deep. Her nipple hardened further inside his mouth and he teased it with teeth and tongue while she ground more urgently against him. His breath came in panting gasps now, and he silently begged her to end their torment. She lost her control to the sensations and rode him with wild abandon, and cried out and pulsed around him. He rode too close to the razor thin line between pleasure and pain and his own orgasm burst up from the very depths of his being to pour deep inside her. ***** Reality slowly encroached, as Zach’s adrenaline faded and his breathing returned to normal. Cassidy lay crumpled on top of him, and he ran his hands through her tousled hair and kissed her forehead. Little tremors ran through Cassidy’s chest and a heavy ball of led settled in the pit of his stomach as he realized she was crying. But a second later, she surprised him further when a full rich laugh bubbled up out of her and filled the room. She stretched languidly, still joined with him and sat up. “I feel so alive! Like I could take on

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the world.” She leaned down to nip at his bottom lip playfully and then slid off of him to lie on her back beside him. Zach shook his head in wonder. This woman never ceased to amaze him. “And I thought I’d made you cry.” Cassidy sat up and leaned over him, a crease forming between her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth bent down into a concerned frown. “You know, for a mind reader, you don’t bother to read mine very much when it counts. Besides, I’m trying my best to escape for a few hours at a time so I don’t lose my sanity. Let’s just try to enjoy the moment.” The truth hit Zach hard and percolated through his system in an accusing flood. “You’re right. When I thought you were crying, I didn’t reach out to see what was wrong. I instinctively protected myself and did nothing.” If he wanted to love this woman fully, he needed to work on trusting her not to hurt him like Diane did. He laughed at himself. Leave it to him to blame Diane for dying and hurting him—as Cassidy and Kathy would say—what a male thing to think. “You got that right.” He looked over in time to see her smirk. “Some of us do bother to read minds when it’s available. He pulled her hair playfully.

“Well, I did warn you mind reading didn’t guarantee no

miscommunication.” She lay on her side, leaned on her elbow, her head resting in her hand. “Are you happy, Zach?” Zach rolled onto his side and pulled her against him for a searing kiss. “Yes,” he whispered against her mouth. “I just wish we never had to go back through that door into the real world. I wish the two of us could stay like this forever.” She giggled and rubbed the long line of her body against him. “I agree, but we’d get pretty hungry.” Zach nibbled her bottom lip. “I could snack on you for quite a while.” She kissed him back quickly and then pulled away with mischief in her eyes. “Not that I don’t think you’re tasty, but I require real food.” Her expression sobered. “And besides, we can’t hide from everything. I need to know if they’ve found her yet.” Zach’s thoughts turned dark, he’d allowed himself to push the tortured girl from his mind for a few hours. He knew he needed the time to let his mind recover, but he guilt flowed nonetheless. Nodding, he smacked Cassidy’s bare bottom lightly. “Okay, then let’s get moving.” Cassidy rolled off the bed and pulled him with her. “Zach?”

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Looking for his underwear somewhere in the explosion of their clothes he nodded for her to continue. “I think you should teach me how to contact Brian.” His head snapped up to look at her. She’d pulled on a robe and stood with her arms rigidly at her side, her eyes piercing—ready for battle. Zach sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He didn’t want Cassidy contacting the Reaper— especially after what happened last night. It was too dangerous, and he couldn’t protect her fully—too many possibilities for something to go wrong and he wouldn’t risk her further. “Can we get through a shower before we have this argument?” Cassidy pulled him down on the bed beside her, and he felt at a distinct disadvantage since he was still totally nude. “I think it’s too dangerous, but you already saw everything that flashed through my mind about it. You know how I feel.” “But there’s no other way to find him on our terms.” It gnawed inside his gut, she was right. If it were a matter of him contacting the Reaper—no matter how dangerous, he would do it. But the thought of risking her tore at his heart. Cassidy grabbed his chin and turned his head to face her. “We can’t be at peace with us, with any kind of relationship, until this is over.” Zach understood, but still wanted to dissuade her, so he tried a different approach. “What will you do once you contact him? You’ve already hurt him without even meaning to.” Cassidy lifted her chin, and he had to fight to keep from smiling at the small gesture of stubbornness he’d come to love. “I’ll be able to get clues about where he is, and maybe I can force open the door to his powers and hurt him the same way he’s hurting those women.” “You mean killing those women.” Was she actually thinking about killing the Reaper? “We need to stop him before he hurts someone else.” “I don’t disagree, but that’s not the way to do it. Once you start down the path of playing God with people, it’s hard to stop. And nothing justifies murder Cass—nothing.” Her eyes lit with temper. “You have to help me stop him. I know you can’t get a direct link with him, but I can. We should connect to him and stop him for good. This is a special situation and warrants the use of anything at our disposal.” Zach took her hands in his and feathered his thumb over her knuckles. “I could find justification for every job I go on if I used the same logic. But using power the wrong way is like saying you’re only

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going to do one line of cocaine—it doesn’t work that way. If I began justifying the use of what I call ‘superior justice’ just because I can, I’d be no better than the Reaper.” Tears welled up in Cassidy’s eyes. “I’m afraid, and he has to be stopped. We were given this power for a reason, we should use it.” Zach tried one last time to make her understand. “If I were given superior strength, does that mean I could justify beating up the world to make them follow my sense of justice? Who’s to say my sense of justice is correct? There are laws which must be followed, that’s what keeps our society functioning.” Her turmoil of emotions slapped him in the face as she tore away from him and threw up her shields. “If you won’t help me, I’ll do it myself!” Bolting off the bed, he followed her, but she already locked the bathroom door and turned on the shower. “Damn.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and went to look for his clothes.

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

Zach finished pulling on his shirt and stepped out of Cassidy’s room. “Dix, I told you breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes.” Zach heard Kathy’s words as he walked around the corner into the living room. Kathy turned to greet Zach with a smile. “Good morning, Zach.” She grabbed the newspaper off of the coffee table. “We’re having crepes stuffed with anything I can find in Cassidy’s kitchen. And thanks to you, it might be something besides pop tarts or skittles.” A slow smile laced with affection stole across Kathy’s face as she pointed toward Dix with a wooden spoon. “See if you can keep this cretin out of the doughnuts for that long.” It seemed Kathy and Dix had bonded more than he thought while Cassidy and I slept. “I’ll do my best, but remember what I said; one woman’s swine is another woman’s stud.” Kathy laughed and headed back toward the kitchen. Zach looked over at Dix as Kathy disappeared. “So, what did I miss?” “With me and Kathy?” Dix looked decidedly guilty. “That too, but I meant the girl—have they found her yet?” Zach sat down on the sofa and Dix plopped down onto the armchair. Dix’s eyebrows drew together, his face darkened into a scowl and he shook his head. “No, we have all the local law enforcement agencies on alert, so we’ll know as soon as they find her, but nothing yet.” Zach shifted in his seat, new waves of psychic energy emanated from the sofa, and they weren’t from Cassidy or himself. He ran a hand over the leather “tasting” the aura and then looked over at Dix with a smirk on his face. “So…left some sexual energy on the couch last night did you?” Dix blushed scarlet and suddenly became very interested in studying his shoes. “I just kissed her…mostly.” He glared at Zach. “Wait, why the hell am I explaining my actions to you like I’m some hormonal teenager?” Zach grinned, enjoying his friend’s discomfort. “I don’t know, why are you?” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his ankles. “Probably because it’s your fault.” Dix shook a finger at Zach. “My fault?” Zach tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin. “I was a little busy with my own woman last night, I don’t remember being in here coaching you two.” “Well, either you or Cassidy.” Dix leaned forward and checked over his shoulder to make sure

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Kathy hadn’t emerged from the kitchen. He leaned closer to Zach so his whisper wouldn’t carry. “Kathy and I were sitting here on the sofa this morning just talking, and all of a sudden I felt someone touching me.” Dix gestured toward his crotch. “You know, touching me.” Embarrassment burned through Zach as he realized Cassidy’s phantom touch power had reached out to both of their friends while they had been making love and her shields had been down. “Did Kathy feel it too?” He swallowed against a throat gone dry. Dix nodded. “I’ve never been so damn horny in all my life. We both just ended up in each other’s arms, and before we could do much more than kiss and grope a little, well…” Dix trailed off and Zach tried to hold back a chuckle at the thought of Dix coming in his pants. Zach cleared his throat to hide his laugh. “Well, I hope at least both of you made it to the finish line.” Dix scowled. “I would have preferred being able to take the credit for her finish line myself, if you know what I mean.” “I’d apologize, but it wasn’t me. Cassidy is the one with the phantom touch power, and she’s still learning how to use it.” Zach sighed and made a mental note to warn Cassidy about the phantom touch fiasco before she saw Kathy and Dix. Dix scrubbed his hands over his stubbled face and then looked up at Zach. “Damn boy, so what you’re telling me is we were picking up on you and Cassidy’s…activities? I thought maybe one of you were dreaming or something.” Zach avoided Dix’s eyes and nodded once. Dix let out a long whistle. “Wow.” Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and wisely changed the subject. “Anyway, getting back to the case, we can’t find the woman the Reaper attacked. We’ve run what little information we have on her through the databases, but no one who fits her description has been reported missing or has been treated for similar injuries.” Dix yawned and ran his hands through his already sleep-tousled hair. “Dix, did you get any sleep last night? Before the incident this morning, I mean?” “No, and not for any of the good reasons I would’ve preferred, unlike what I heard coming through Cassidy’s door this morning.” Dix chucked a thumb in the general direction of the door. “Yeah, well, she’s not speaking to me, so I guess you’re better off than me since Kathy is not only speaking to you, she’s cooking you breakfast.” With Cassidy it always seemed like one step forward and ten steps back. Usually, he admitted, it had been his own fault, but this morning happened because of her fear. Hopefully, once she calmed down enough to see things objectively, she would understand his determination to not use his powers

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destructively. A fine line, it would be easy to cross, but he’d always stayed clear of it. “What are you two fighting about now?” Zach glanced toward her closed door to ensure she wouldn’t hear them discussing her. “She thinks I should force open the Reaper’s powers.” Dix’s brows arched up in surprise. “Wouldn’t it kill him?” “Most likely, but she thinks any weapon in our arsenal is fair game at this point, both to prevent future murders and to protect herself.” Dix looked thoughtful. “I may not be a psychic, but isn’t it the same ethics as misusing your FBI power and authority?” Zach looked into his friend’s eyes and smiled. “Exactly. But I have a feeling she’s thinking more ‘the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one’ while I’m thinking ‘the ends don’t justify the means.’ She’s scared—not that I blame her, so she doesn’t want to see my reasons.” Dix stood and slapped Zach on the shoulder. “Cassidy is a very smart lady, give her some time.” Zach sincerely hoped so. He’d gone too far in his feelings for Cassidy to want to lose her— especially over this. ***** Cassidy slammed the car door and then fastened her seatbelt. As soon as Zach slid into the driver’s side and closed the door she rounded on him. “Why didn’t you warn me?” Zach sighed as he fastened his own seatbelt and started the car. “You weren’t speaking to me, remember? I didn’t think you wanted me contacting you when you were pissed at me.” His reasonable tone rankled and her anger allowed her to ignore his logic. “Don’t take that tone with me. You could’ve given me a small hint I broadcast all of our sexual episodes to Kathy and Dix before I walked out there.” Zach stopped at a stop sign and turned in the seat to look at her. “If I would have contacted you, what would you have done? Be honest.” He cautioned her before she could answer. Damn! She hated when he was right. If he would’ve contacted her before she cooled down, she wouldn’t have listened—even if he’d gotten past her shields. She sighed, deflated. “You’re probably right. But how am I ever going to face them again?” “Look at the bright side.” “And just what would the bright side be in this particular case?” “They both had a really good time?” She watched Zach try to hide his smile and felt her lips curve in response. “Damn you, I don’t

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want to think this is funny.” Before she could stop it a full, rich laugh bubbled up out of her and filled the car. “Okay,it is kind of funny. But we have to come up with a signal or something so we know it’s important—even when we aren’t speaking.” Zach turned to look over at her. “How about pint?” Cassidy thought about it. An innocuous word, it held significance for them both and probably couldn’t be misconstrued. “Deal. Pint it is. Okay, so next time is all taken care of, but what the hell can I do about the time that already happened? “Can you teach me how to control this phantom touch power before I become a menace to the neighborhood?” Zach fidgeted in his seat. “Well, I can try.” He held up a hand to forestall her objection. “It’s not my talent, so I can tell you how it works in theory. When this whole thing is over, I’ll put you in touch with some other psychics who do have that talent. They’ll know how to help you.” “Great. So until then, I’m sharing with the world anytime we do anything.” “Not exactly the world. Your range is limited and both Kathy and Dix have some small measure of psychic awareness, so they were able to pick up on the signals you were sending. None of the rest of your immediate neighbors has enough sensitivity to even have the hairs on the back of their necks stand up.” Small consolation, but she’d have to take it—not like she had a choice for now. “So, where are we going, anyway? I was so happy to get out of there, I didn’t ask at the time.” “I knew you were uncomfortable, so I figured we could go do another round at FBI headquarters and see what else we can dig up about the Reaper’s parents.” “Okay, but I’m starving. Can we drive through somewhere?” “We could have stayed and had crepes” “I have no desire to sit across from both of our friends whom I just gifted with orgasms a few hours ago. I feel like I serviced the whole damn house!” Zach chuckled. “Well, you did.” Cassidy slugged him lightly in the shoulder and glared, but it only served to make Zach laugh harder. Eventually his laughter subsided and gave way to a lopsided grin. “No problem, there are a bunch of drive through places we can drive through on the way.” Cassidy sighed and relaxed back against the seat. She’d wanted a more exciting life—right? Well, she got it. Not exactly what she had in mind when she wished for it, but she had to admit, it was exciting. Okay, and embarrassing, she reminded herself.

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A cold chill ran through her body and instantaneously, a scene of a barren grey bedroom flashed into her mind. “Cass?” She looked over into Zach’s concerned eyes. “I just saw the bedroom where he tortured the girl. It’s close by, I can feel it.” Shaking her head, she searched for how she knew it was close, but could find no reasonable explanation—she just knew. But she had no idea how to zero in on it. Another flash interrupted her vision—she saw the dead staring eyes of the woman. She turned to Zach. “She’s dead.” Her gaze drew to the right and she pointed to a driveway into a small apartment complex. “There, turn there.” Zach didn’t question her. He turned the car into the small driveway and pulled off to the side and stopped the car. “We need to call for backup.” He pulled out his Nextel and placed the call. No questions, no doubts about her abilities. Her mind reeled at the amount of trust he had in her powers. She just hoped fervently she warranted his trust. How do I even know we’re in the right place? The woman could be halfway across the city or maybe even recuperating at a hospital somewhere—how did I really know? Zach’s hand closed over hers. “Stop doubting your gift. You can only learn to control it by using it. Go with your gut.” Cassidy nodded and let herself link with Zach until their backup arrived. Zach and Cassidy stepped out of the car as Dix approached. There were several Phoenix police cars and a few unmarked cars parked behind Dix. Zach gestured at him as if to say, “why are they here?” Dix stepped close so only Zach and Cassidy could hear him. “The Agent in Charge called, he’s getting pressure from all sides on this—I had no choice but to include them.” Cassidy looked at the two men standing closest to them. One wore the khaki uniform of a Phoenix PD officer and the other wore plain clothes with a rumpled tie, his face set into cocky grin. The man with the tie radiated waves of hostility and distrust in their direction, despite his look of outward amusement. No wonder Zach takes an instant dislike to some people—it’s too easy to see how they really feel. Zach nodded at Dix and stepped forward to shake hands with the representatives from the local police. “I’m Special Agent Zach Hatcher, and this is Cassidy James, a civilian consultant on this case.” Cassidy started. A civilian consultant? Zach seemed to be stretching things a bit; she hoped she didn’t get him in trouble.

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Dix cut in pointing toward the two representatives. “Agent Hatcher is in charge on this scene. Are we clear?” The man with the tie, who introduced himself as detective Watters nodded. “My men have been briefed. We’re here as your backup.” Zach turned toward Cassidy. Take a deep breath, close your eyes and concentrate on the room and the woman. Aloud he said, “Miss James?” Feeling a supportive nudge from Zach, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated on the woman with the dead staring eyes. The pull began and she opened her eyes and followed it. It lead her off to the left next to a pool which had seen better days. “It’s this way.” Zach exchanged some orders with the local police who sent some of their men to surround the building. The rest were to follow them to the apartment. Zach and Dix must not have passed on the information about the woman’s grizzly death—only that she’s here. Cassidy started toward the pool, sidestepping plants which grew over the sidewalk. She continued on until she passed a path which veered off to the right and her pull suddenly disappeared. When she stopped short, the men behind her stopped as well. “What the hell are we doing?” Watters demanded. Zach turned a deadly stare toward the patronizing man. In a low dangerous voice, Zach said, “We are finding the apartment our victim is in, Watters. You are my backup, so shut the hell up and wait until you have the opportunity to back me up. Clear?” Watters didn’t look happy, but he ground his teeth and nodded. “Okay, Cassidy, focus and get your bearings again.” Zach squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. This time when Cassidy concentrated, the pull felt much more intense and nearby. Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to bring the location into view. A brief flash of an apartment door with the number 757 on it surrounded by peeling grey paint flowed across her mind’s eye. A notice taped to the door advised the post office left a package with the front office. Her hands shook as she opened her eyes. She reached out to Zach to keep from swaying. “Apartment 757, it’s down this path.” Watters cleared his throat. “I didn’t know the FBI called in a psychic for this case. Why weren’t we told?” Zach glared over his shoulder at the man. “It was need to know and you don’t need to know. You just need to help us secure the scene after she finds it.”

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Cassidy heard mutters behind her—‘FBI bastards’ being the most repeatable. Zach seemed not to hear and motioned them all forward. “Dix, keep Cassidy with you. We’ll check out the apartment.” Zach tried to put his shields up so Cassidy couldn’t see inside the apartment. “Damn you, Zach, I helped you get here, open your shields.” “You’ve seen enough blood and death over the past few days. At least I can spare you this.” Cassidy’s temper sparked and flared. Zach may be just doing his job, but it’s not his job to shield me. She’d been the one to see Brian torture the woman and she felt personally responsible. “When he’s stubborn like this I just want to kick him.” She muttered, kicking a boulder next to the path instead. “Ow! Practice on your own time, Cass. I’m busy here.” Shock traveled through her. Her phantom touch power seemed to be growing, and as usual at the most inopportune times. But she did let a small smug smile form on her lips—he’d deserved the kick for being so pompous. “He’s just trying to protect you,” offered Dix. “Don’t make me kick you too.” At Dix’s puzzled expression she just shook her head. They both jumped as Dix’s Nextel chirped. “We’ve got her,” came Zach’s voice. “Call the coroner, she’s dead.” ***** The Reaper stumbled into the dank alley behind the small mom and pop drugstore and listened for sounds of anyone in the area. Moonlight spilled around him casting everything in a surreal light and forcing him to hug the wall to keep from being seen. Tentatively reaching out with his powers to confirm he was alone, he stifled a scream as sharp arrows of pain ripped through him. The inside of his head burned as if on fire and he clamped his eyes shut until the world stopped spinning. That whore overloaded my powers and they’ll be useless until I let them recuperate. He knew he needed to rest and recover, but there was too much pain to sleep without shutting his mind down. There was also the risk of them finding him while he slept by tracking his powers. Strong tranquilizers were what he needed along with some recovery time. He still had a small stash of Ecstasy, but that would knock his powers out for a few weeks and would leave him vulnerable if they found him. Besides, he only used it sparingly as it deteriorated psychic powers with each use.

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Once he healed, things would fall into place and he’d make his mother pay for hurting him. For a moment, two faces swam in front of his vision, Cassidy James and his mother. Since concentrating hurt, he relaxed and let the images merge. I’ll worry about my mother and Cassidy after I heal. After one more glance around to ensure he was alone, he pulled open the fuse box, cutting the power to the building to disable the alarm and phone lines and listened intently. Hearing nothing, he moved to the back door and forced it open, his gun ready. Nothing moved and he heard no sounds from within, so he slipped quietly inside and pulled the door shut behind him. Neat rows of moonlight-dappled shelves carrying all manner of merchandise sat between him and the pharmacy along the back wall. As soon as he found the tranquilizers, he’d come back to find some food and toiletries. He would need enough to last him for a while. Threading his way through the darkened aisles, he skirted over the counter in the back. There were hundreds of boxes, bottles and vials. Not sure where to begin, he knew he had to find what he searched for fast. He began to pull boxes off the shelves—those which didn’t meet his needs piled on the floor, broken and scattered. The crash of new items on his growing pile comforted him until he found bottles of morphine and some Vicadin. “Either one of these should do nicely as long as I don’t mix them,” he murmured to the darkened room.

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CHAPTER TWELVE Zach opened the bottom drawer of his chest of drawers and rummaged in the back until his hand closed over a velvet bag. He pulled it out, the sight of the purple drawstring pouch shot through him like a knife. He feathered his thumb over the soft material and memories flooded through him like a movie stuck in fast forward. He lifted the bag to his nose and inhaled. The scent of French vanilla surrounded him. “Diane…” His whispered words echoed through the room and through his mind. Every night before she came to bed, Diane took off her jewelry and placed it lovingly inside the velvet bag before burying it under her bras and panties in their chest of drawers. Then she’d turn toward him and say, “If anyone breaks in, they’ll slow down when they get to my sexy lacy undies and we’ll have time to save my jewelry.” He smiled at the memory. Diane was nothing if not conscientious about her jewelry. He stood, taking the bag with him and crossed to the bed and sat, perched on the edge. He carefully loosened the drawstring ties and upended the bag on the bed, watching as the diamonds, pearls, rubies and sapphires mounted on gold flowed onto the bed like an expensive waterfall. Sifting through the pile, the glitter of silver caught his eye, probably the least expensive of the pieces, but priceless in his opinion. Carefully, he picked up the ring and held it up so the light fired and refracted off the facets. A large round one-carat sapphire glinted merrily against its sterling silver setting. Surrounded by a ring of diamonds, his grandmother’s aura emanated in warm rolling waves from the ring. His grandfather had it specially made for her for their fiftieth wedding anniversary, and she’d given it to Zach before she died, telling him to pass it on to the love of his life once he found her. He’d asked himself numerous times why he’d never given it to Diane, but he’d always told himself the time just wasn’t right. Now the time would never be right. Not for he and Diane, anyway. He sighed and held the bag up to his nose again, wallowing in Diane’s favorite scent. But maybe there was still time to give himself a new chance at life and let Diane’s memory rest. He wrestled down the instinctive fear that came with thoughts of opening his heart again. But then realization hit. “Who are you kidding, Zach. She’s already embedded deep.” Sighing, he rose and headed toward the kitchen. The sound of the refrigerator opening and closing met him as he entered. Cassidy stood in front of the bar holding two bud lights. “I’m here for mind calisthenics.” She twisted the tops off both beers and wispy mist rose from each bottle. Zach couldn’t help but smile at her. A wonderful combination of sarcasm and optimism, she

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always managed to make him laugh. “Mind calisthenics, huh?” She laughed and took a swig of beer. “I was calling it mind torture, but Kathy told me to be more optimistic.” Zach took the proffered beer and sat on a barstool across the counter from her. “You’re one of the most optimistic people I’ve ever met. I think you’re just scared of things you can’t control.” Staring down at her bottle, she chased a drop of perspiration down the side of the brown glass. It reminded him of the same single-mindedness with which she’d chased droplets of perspiration down his bare chest when they’d made love. Her words distracted him from his erotic memories. “I’m very big on security, which I guess to me means control.” She shrugged, her head cocking to the side in an irresistible gesture. “That sounds pretty closed minded and frumpy doesn’t it?” He reached out to brush an escaped auburn tendril away from her face and tuck it gently behind her ear. “Frumpy is the last thing I’d ever associate with you. But I think in this case, your desire to control your destiny can help us both.” Holding his breath, he forced his hand to move to his pocket where his grandmother’s ring pulsed psychic waves against his skin even through his clothes. Her eyes crinkled at the corners and her brows knit in adorable confusion. Reaching out to grab her hand, he turned it palm up and lay the ring inside, closing her fingers carefully over it. He forced himself to let go, leaving the ring with Cassidy. Only then did he let out the breath he’d been holding. Cassidy jumped as the ring touched her skin. Waves of warm pulsing energy emanated out from it reminding her of repeated flicks of a butterfly’s wings inside her closed palm. Slowly opening her hand, she pinched the ring between her thumb and forefinger and brought it close to her face so she could study it. “Where did you get this? Zach leaned back, crossing his arms, but remained silent, watching her. I guess that’s the only answer I’ll get to my question. Gripping the ring in her hand, she closed her eyes and concentrated on how the ring felt in her palm. It warmed against her skin and she gasped at the smell of fresh grass filled her nostrils. She opened her eyes and noted how beautiful the ring looked when the sun glinted off the facets of the sapphire. She took it off her wrinkled finger and handed it to a little boy with dark, unruly hair and warm cognac-brown eyes full of wonder. Her voice was gravely with age, but joyous as she spoke. “Someday you give this to the love of your life, Zachary, and she’ll be as happy in her life as I’ve been in mine. That’s how I want you to remember me.” Warmth and love suffused her as the little boy threw his arms around her neck and placed a sloppy kiss on her cheek. He smelled of wild cherry popsicles and bubble gum scented

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shampoo. The combination made her smile and tears welled up in her eyes. “I love you, Grammy. But I’m never gonna have a love of my life other than you and mom.” The hot tears streamed down her face, but not in sadness, in joy for all the gifts her long life had given her. The cancer may be eating her alive, but a part of her would live on inside her wonderful grandson. Cassidy’s face was still wet when she opened her eyes and saw Zach sitting across from her with a wistful expression in his eyes. She cleared her dry throat to ensure she could speak. “I saw the past, didn’t I?” Zach nodded. “That was my mother’s mother. She and I were very close. We lost her a year after she gave me that ring.” His voice broke and he coughed in a self-conscious gesture to cover his emotions. Cassidy wiped the remaining tears from her eyes, taking deep breaths to try and shake off the disorientation from the vision. “I didn’t even know it was a vision until it ended. I felt like I was there, like it was my ring.” She opened her palm and picked up the ring to admire the way it glinted in the light. “Is it supposed to work that way?” “It’s different for everyone. But we’ve just proven you have past remote viewing along with the present you’ve already experienced. It means future is also possible.” Cassidy held the ring out to Zach, but after a slight hesitation, he reached out and curled her hand around it, holding it closed. “You hold onto it for a while. It works so well because Grammy wore that ring every day for twenty years. Twenty years of her aura interacting with the energy of the ring embedded much of her essence inside it.” “But…this is a family heirloom. I don’t feel right about holding on to it.” This is meant for the love of your life… She tried once again to hand it back to Zach. He shook his head. “It almost ended up buried with Diane inside her casket.” Shock traveled through Cassidy and her eyes snapped up to meet Zach’s. “I thought she died in a car explosion, how did the ring even survive?” Her voice barely a whisper, sounded like a shout in the suddenly silent kitchen. Tension vibrated between them in thick psychic waves. Zach’s shields firmed, keeping his thoughts from her. “I never gave it to her.” More uncomfortable silence hung between them and she didn’t know how to break it. After what seemed like an eternity, he took a swig of beer and sat the bottle carefully on the counter between them. “You can’t tell me you’ve never been in a relationship where you wanted it to

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work so badly you ignored everything telling you it wasn’t right?” The comment hit a nerve. Cassidy had been in several relationships just like he described. In fact, she’d gone to meet Brian for drinks under those same circumstances. “Point taken.” “I felt so guilty after she died—almost as if I would’ve given her that last bit of myself,” he pointed toward the ring. “She’d still be alive.” He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “The day of the funeral I put a box of our letters to each other in her casket along with mementos from her family. I tried several times to put the ring inside too, but I just couldn’t make my fingers let go.” His looked past her as if he were reliving his memories. “Take the ring, Cassidy. Hold on to it and use the ring to hone your powers. Everything you can learn, will help us find the Reaper and keep you safe. Cassidy looked down at the ring in her hand. If she concentrated, she could still feel the warmth emanating from it. Disappointment surged through her at what he hadn’t said. But she shoved the hurt aside and tucked the ring carefully inside her pocket, deciding to find a safe place to keep it as soon as she had the chance. “How do I work on seeing the future?” “The future is a little more problematic. There is no tried and true lever. It will come when it comes.” Zach pierced her with a knowing gaze. “Are you going to ask me the question you really want to ask? I’ve been in your mind—remember?” Cassidy clamped down on a feeling of anger at being so transparent and met his gaze. “Can you teach me how to force open the Reaper’s powers?” “Yes. But I won’t.” He captured her hand before she could pull away. “You don’t know what you’re asking, and someday you’ll appreciate the fact I wasn’t willing to teach you.” Another deep arrow of hurt sliced through her. Didn’t he see that this would be the best way to protect her and all of Brian’s other potential victims? “I don’t understand. And I can’t see how I’ll ever appreciate this.” She pulled her hand out of his and stalked to the far counter. Turning back to Zach, she pierced him with a steely gaze. “The Reaper is allowed to run free killing indiscriminately, but we aren’t allowed to put a stop to it?

You can’t tell me the FBI hasn’t done surgical strikes or

assassinations in the name of politics. This is about survival!” He held up her hand. “No, I can’t tell you anything of the sort. But what I can tell you is to wield your power in that manner is far more damaging to you than to the recipient.” “The ‘recipient’ as you so eloquently call them ends up dead in this scenario. How can the price to me be worse than that?”

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“I know. But using powers to do damage is as addictive as any narcotic. If you want a quicker, less painful death, I’d suggest becoming a heroine addict.” “Damn it! That doesn’t make any sense.” She paced the small kitchen and tried to calm the swirl of anger laced with fear flowing through her. Zach remained seated calmly studying her, which only frustrated her further. “Cassidy, you’re forgetting, you’ll be using your mind to inflict this pain. Using heroine turns off your mind and your feelings—which is why people use it for an escape. There is no escape from what we’re talking about. It will be all you can think of and all you can feel until you drive yourself insane. Just like the Reaper.” The idea of becoming like Brian percolated through her until she shuddered. Hadn’t she felt Brian’s glee at the suffering he inflicted? Maybe Zach was right. It was about power, domination and pain, and she could see how easily it could become a narcotic in its own right. But the thought of doing nothing while Brian tracked her and killed other women didn’t sit right either. “Doing nothing isn’t the idea,” Zach reminded her. “You’re powerful enough to keep him at bay as well as help me find him. But first we have to teach you some control as well as a knowledge of what you can and can’t do with your gifts.” He stood and crossed the small kitchen to stand in front of her. He lay his hands on her shoulders until she looked up into his cognac eyes. “I’ll ask again, are you willing to trust me?” She firmed her shields to keep her emotions at bay. With my life and my heart. “Yes. Show me what to do.” ***** Zach heard loud buzzing through a haze. He opened his eyes gingerly and pushed Cassidy’s hair out of his face. Light streamed through the windows and Cassidy’s nightstand clock advised a time of six-thirty in the morning. He groaned, only in Arizona could you find cheery sunlight at six-freaking-thirty in the morning. “Buzz!” he heard again and this time recognized it as the vibrate function on his cell phone . He slapped his hand over the offending appliance and brought it to his ear. “Hatcher.” He pulled his arm out from under Cassidy and sat up. Cassidy rolled over and blinked at him sleepily. “Zach, what’s going on?” Dix’s voice sounded over the line. “You two might want to take a discreet look out the front window, and for God’s sake, make sure you’re dressed.” Cassidy must’ve heard, because she bolted out of bed and pulled on a robe.

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“Wait,” Zach hissed at her while pulling on jeans from where they’d fallen last night in their usual rush to get in bed. “We don’t know what’s out there.” He zipped up his jeans, leaving the button open and retrieved his Glock from under his pillow. He motioned for Cassidy to follow and they padded side by side into the living room. “Don’t open the blinds so the movement can be seen outside,” he warned. “Just open one a crack and peer through.” Following his own directions, he peeked out and couldn’t believe what he saw. Several news vans were parked along the street and a large group of reporters armed with microphones and cameras milled around them. “Why the hell are all these news people here?” Cassidy stood next to him peering out. Zach had a sinking feeling in his gut, and hoped he was wrong. “Let me call Dix back and get the scoop. Turn on the TV and see what they’re broadcasting.” Cassidy flicked on the TV and switched to the local news channel. A picture of the outside of her house filled the screen, and she groaned at the image of a perky newscaster standing in the middle of her yard.

“Local Phoenix symphony cellist Cassidy James was called in yesterday as a psychic

consultant to help the FBI find the latest victim in a string of mysterious murders committed by a man calling himself the Reaper.” “Dix, turn on Channel five,” said Zach as soon as Dix answered. Cassidy’s publicity photo with the symphony displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen. “The FBI refused to comment, but local law enforcement confirmed at least eight deaths to date.” “Eight?” Zach threw up his hands. “If they’re going to leak it, they should at least leak the correct information!” “Damn it!” growled Dix into the phone. “Shhh, quiet.” Cassidy chided them both. “I want to hear the rest of this.” “The FBI refused to release the names of the victims or any details about the deaths, but a local detective on the scene when the last victim was found advised that a twenty-eight-year-old woman was brutally stabbed to death.” The camera panned in for a close-up of the perky blonde reporter. “Miss James was attacked a week ago, but to date is the only one of the Reaper’s victims to escape. This could explain why Special Agent Zachary Hatcher has put Miss James under twenty-four hour protection in her home in west Phoenix. However, no details of why Miss James was called in to assist the FBI are available. In fact, until this incident, it was unknown she possessed psychic gifts. Stay tuned to news five for ongoing

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updates. This is Sheila O’Donnell, Eye Witness News.” Zach clenched his fists. He knew exactly who the “local law enforcement” source was— Detective Watters. He hadn’t trusted the man one bit, and he’d been the one who had demanded to know why Cassidy was brought in. “Damn! Dix, did you know about this?” “If you’d stop cussing and listen I’ll tell you. I just got off the phone with the director. They called him at home for a comment.” “Great.” Zach plopped down next to Cassidy on the couch. “I’m sure he loved that.” “Not exactly, he’s pissed and he wants this case wrapped up in the next few days. But I did confirm the press’ story that Cassidy is under FBI protective custody. As far as the psychic stuff, the Director still thinks the press is blowing smoke.” “Great,” said Zach again. “A perfect start to another day.” Cassidy leaned over to look at her answering machine. “Oh my God! I have thirty-seven messages!” Zach leaned past her to look at the machine. “We never heard the phone ring.” “I turn it off before I go to bed at night. Anyone who needs me that badly has my cell phone number.” She pushed the play button before Zach could stop her. Cassidy sat on the couch with her shoulders slumped looking dumbstruck as messages from local and national TV, radio and newspapers played. All of them seemed to want interviews with Cassidy. Zach put a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Try not to take it seriously. It will all pass as soon as we catch the Reaper.” “I’ve been outed to the entire state as a psychic, and I won’t be able to go outside to water my flowers without having my picture taken and a microphone thrust in my face, and I’m not supposed to take it seriously? “Won’t I also have wacko’s crawling out of the woodwork to solicit the services of a psychic? And I don’t even know how to use my powers yet.” She continued to sit slumped against him, eyes closed resting her head on his shoulder. Zach thought about the reception he’d been given whenever people found out about his powers. “Probably, but you can’t hide what you are. People would’ve found out eventually.” He kissed the top of her head. “The upside is that most people will consider your powers a scam and not pay any attention to the stories about you. And it will probably even boost Symphony attendance. But you may want to keep the drapes closed tightly whenever you’re practicing in the nude.”

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“I don’t…” Cassidy stopped as she realized she’d allowed him to bait her. “You know, I really hate it when you make me smile when I’d rather be grouchy for a while.” “Liar.” He kissed her gently. ***** Cassidy reached out and took Zach’s hands in hers. It had taken her quite a while, but she’d convinced everyone the next logical step was for them to try and contact the Reaper. The fact that the FBI Director was breathing down Zach and Dix’s necks had helped too. “Can I just mention one more time that this is a really bad idea?” Dix offered. “Cassidy, he fried you pretty badly the last time you brushed minds with him, remember?” Zach spoke up. “True, but Cassidy hurt him too. Enough so he hasn’t contacted her since then. With the extra control she’s gained over the last few days, she can protect herself while I pinpoint the Reaper’s location.” Cassidy looked over at Dix. “Please try and understand, this is the only way to get this over quickly. I’m tired of running. I’m going to try this either way, I’d much rather have everyone’s support behind me.” Cassidy felt Zach’s disapproving stare, but refused to meet it. Her insistence that she would do this with or without him was the only reason Zach sat here now. Dix finally nodded, but waves of concern and fear continued to pour off him. It was amazing that in such a short time, Dix had become almost as close to her as Kathy. She sent him a bright smile, hoping he’d return it. He didn’t, but he grudgingly gave her a thumbs up signal. Zach nodded and then looked at her. “Are we ready?” Cassidy smiled and squeezed both of his hands. “Ready,” she said, glad her voice sounded steadier than she felt. Closing her eyes, she relaxed and tuned out everything except for the strong links threaded between herself and Zach. Slowly, she concentrated on the spot in the front of her mind where she first felt the white-hot pain the night Brian attacked her. Over the past few days she’d learned that each person she connected with would connect on a slightly different pathway in her mind, thus a different spot she could concentrate on. Sort of like an address within your mind. The area around the spot started to warm and a slow tingle radiated out, reaching out to find the recipient at the other side—the Reaper. She damped down her fear as it threatened to overwhelm her. Pushing aside everything except the tingle of energy flowing through her and reaching out into the city, her mental energy searched in an

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ever widening pattern until it stopped short and strained at the limits of her range. “I can’t reach any farther, and I still don’t feel him.” “He’s still alive or you wouldn’t have been able to send out energy along his connection at all. Try picturing him in your mind and concentrate on when your mental energy becomes warmer or more intense. That should tell you when you’re at least close.” Picturing Brian in her head, she took a deep breath and concentrated on differentiating how the link felt when she reached in different directions. There seemed to be no change other than the feeling of an open connection which wasn’t being received. She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but she could feel her energy level waning. Not wanting to deplete Zach’s energy as well, she took one last sweep around her and gave up. Zach squeezed her hand. She let out a breath and opened her eyes. She blinked against the light. “If he’s alive, why can’t I find him?” Cassidy stood and stretched her protesting muscles. Dix stood. “There could be a number of reasons, don’t start doubting your abilities just because our first attempt failed. We should all recharge and then try again tomorrow.” Zach frowned. “I know why.” Cassidy turned to look at him. “Are you going to share?” He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head to work out the kinks. “Do you remember the night I found you out on the lawn?” Cassidy nodded, how could she ever forget it?

It was the night her life had changed so

drastically. And yet, she wouldn’t trade a minute of it—she’d found Zach that night. Or rather, he’d found her. She smiled at the memory of him carrying her inside and taking care of her. “Wait, I get it.” Her voice laced with excitement. “I was hurt and you gave me some Tylenol PM to knock me out so he couldn’t get to me anymore. You told me later you only put the shields up as a precaution.” Zach nodded with approval. “You learn fast.” Dix scowled and plopped down on the recliner facing them. “Would someone like to share with the peon normal person in the room?” he asked archly. “I’m sorry, Dix.” Zach turned to his friend. “When a psychic takes a tranquilizer, even in a mild form, it turns off the part of the brain which governs their power. It…” he searched for the right analogy, “takes them off everyone’s radar for a while.” Understanding bloomed across Dix’s face. “So our guy popped some tranq’s to give himself

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some down time. Cassidy must’ve really hurt him then—right?” Zach nodded. “Most likely he’s holed up somewhere drugged and giving himself time to recover. How long will depend on the extent of the damage Cassidy dealt him.”

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Reaper sensed his mother mentally reaching for him. He smiled groggily as she continued her futile search. You can’t find me yet mother, he thought without enough power to send the words into her mind. Using all his willpower he opened his heavy lids and stared into the gloom. Slowly, his eyes focused, and he could make out the shapes of the standard issue hotel TV and chest of drawers against the far wall. He spent the last few days in blissful healing sleep, undisturbed until his mother’s attempted contact. Glancing at the clock, he decided he needed to eat and then take another dose of medicine. He hadn’t eaten for twenty-four hours and his body needed fuel to recuperate. Grunting against the heaviness infusing his limbs, he forced his feet over the side of the bed and onto the floor, and sat up. He fought against the searing pain inside his head, and clamped his eyes shut against the dizziness which assaulted him. At least the nausea wasn’t as bad this time. He breathed in gulps of fresh air until his equilibrium returned and he could open his eyes without the room tilting. Another few days of rest and the pain and discomfort would be gone, his healing complete and he could try his powers once again. “Then I’ll come for you mother,” he whispered, the thought stirring to life his groin. He absently reached down to stroke himself. “It will be just like I promised. We’ll be together like we were meant to be before you must die…again.” ***** Cassidy stood inside FBI headquarters next to Zach. He and Dix had been called in early this morning to update the Director and Zach hadn’t been willing to leave her alone in case Brian contacted her again. She watched the Director read a statement to the press on a TV monitor mounted against the corner of two walls. As soon as he finished, dozens of hands thrust into the air and reporters jostled for position like racers at a starting line. “Mr. Director, can you confirm there have been twelve deaths caused by the Reaper over the last two weeks?” “Twelve?” Cassidy asked Zach. “Every time I hear the number it’s increased by a few.” “Welcome to the wonders of the press.” The Director held his hand up to quiet the throng of reporters and then continued. “No, and as I’ve already stated several times, there have only been six deaths attributed to the Reaper. And they

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have been over a four month period.” He pointed to another reporter who called out over the crowd. “Why was Cassidy James called in as a civilian psychic on the case?” “There was an anonymous tip about the last murder, but the body hadn’t yet been found. Since Miss James survived an attack by the Reaper, she provided invaluable information to help us find the victim.” The Director’s firm voice brooked no argument and he moved on to the next question. “Wait a minute,” said Cassidy. “I didn’t know there was an anonymous tip.” Zach shook his head. “There wasn’t. Welcome to the spin doctoring of the FBI. When Dix and I met with the Director we told him everything—well everything except our personal involvement. After getting a sizable chunk of our asses chewed off, we agreed to downplay the psychic angle.” “I take it the Director thinks it’s all mumbo jumbo?” “Yes and no. Several years ago a psychic helped on a case when his wife was missing. He doesn’t really believe in it, but since I helped to find his wife, he cuts me some slack. And more importantly, his wife believes in it.” He smiled ruefully. “You were the psychic who found his wife?” “I picked the information out of the mind of the assailant. We had already caught him, but he refused to tell us her location.” Zach straightened his tie and sighed. “Of course the Director wrote it up as an anonymous tip, but he knows the truth, even though he’s in serious denial.” Cassidy felt her temper rise. “Wasn’t it the Director who insisted you allow Watters and the rest of the locals onto the crime scene in the first place?” “Yup. Again, welcome to the wonderful bureaucracy of the FBI. If you make a stupid decision, chew out your subordinate for not informing you it was a stupid decision.” Cassidy snorted. “Look, he’s finishing up and heading back inside.” The Director was a man of presence. A few minutes later when he walked through the doors of FBI Headquarters, Cassidy saw the aura of power and confidence surrounding him. She studied him as he approached. He looked to be in his mid-forties and had brown hair with just a touch of silver at the sides. Most women would describe him as distinguished, but Cassidy saw him as cocky and arrogant. His blazing blue eyes were clear and sharp and seemed to take in everything around him and catalogue it neatly for later study. When his gaze met Cassidy’s open stare, it must’ve intrigued him, because he narrowed his eyes in curiosity and held out a hand to greet her. “Miss James? I’m FBI Director Donovan. I hope my agents are taking good care of you.”

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Cassidy picked up his thoughts without meaning to. He found her attractive because she dared stare at him openly, when most people wouldn’t. She noted his firm grip, not overpowering. “Yes sir, they are. I’m just hoping we find the Reaper soon and this can all be over.” “Agreed.” He turned his attention to Zach, dismissing her and reached out his hand to shake. “Agent Hatcher.” “Director.” Cassidy marveled as the Director walked briskly past them and onto the elevator without as much as another glance. “Well, he’s certainly talkative.” “That is talkative.

Before the incident with his wife, he wouldn’t even acknowledge my

existence. I think now he tolerates me because she keeps asking me to dinner.” “Great, although I wouldn’t want to spend an evening with that guy.” She shuddered as his residual energy washed over her. “He’s kind of slimy. So what do we do now?” Zach smirked at her description of the director, but apparently chose to ignore it. “I thought we could do some more research while we’re here.” Cassidy turned intentionally narrowed eyes to Zach. “Then why did you ask Dix to get you a secure computer link installed in your house and have a list of hard-copy files transported there as well?” Zach looked suddenly sheepish as he took Cassidy’s hand. “Okay, you got me. I was hoping to let the gaggle of reporters thin down a bit so you could get out of here without a scene.” “A scene? You mean an even bigger scene than they’ve been making?” Reporters had been ringing her doorbell and calling her house all day. One resourceful reporter even tried to pose as a pool man and take pictures through her back window. Zach’s team took the unlucky man into “protective” custody within minutes, and as far as Cassidy knew, he was probably still there. When Zach only shrugged, she gave him what she hoped was a confident smile. “We might as well get this over with.” With their minds firmly linked, Zach sent her a wave of support and a jaunty grin. “Okay, keep your fingers and toes close to your body or the sharks will snap them off.” He motioned to a team of five agents she’d never seen before, and the men surrounded them like a barrier. “Thanks, great advice.” They stepped through the front doors and started down the steps. Immediately, the tide of reporters overtook them until they were surrounded by a moving mass of bodies all yelling out questions.

The five agents kept a close perimeter around them, but

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microphones, arms and faces still pressed into the cracks between the men. Cassidy resisted the urge to push the faces back through the cracks. One reporter reached out and grabbed Cassidy’s arm. Before one of the “wall of five” could remove it, Cassidy started to pry it off herself. But as soon as she touched the hand, skin to skin, her vision blurred and she swayed against Zach. She blinked furiously and looked up at the reporter who still held her and gasped as she saw the pretty blonde’s face split open, a steady stream of blood dripping down between the dead staring eyes. She recoiled from the horror of the sight. Zach’s strong arms caught her as she stumbled. Then the vise grip hand of the reporter was pried off of her arm. Only then did her vision clear. Waves of disorientation and confusion assaulted her as she watched the very alive blonde reporter rail angrily against the wall of five’s treatment. “You’re interfering with freedom of the press,” she yelled in a high whiny voice. “You’ll be hearing from our station’s lawyer!” Before Cassidy could catch her breath, she was pressed into the car and they were driving away from the maelstrom of activity. “Did you see that? Or am I going crazy?” She turned to look into Zach’s concerned expression. “We were linked, I saw it.” His face held a mask of anger, but she knew it wasn’t directed at her. What did this mean? Is this woman going to be the Reaper’s next victim? Or did I just pick up an unrelated future death? Because she knew for certain this woman would be dead soon, and it wouldn’t be the peaceful “die in your sleep” kind of passing. Reading her thoughts, Zach shrugged. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “I don’t know. But we’ll keep a close watch on her. If she wouldn’t have touched you, you would have never picked up on the vision.” Zach pulled out his cell phone and began giving orders to have the woman put under surveillance. Cassidy leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. What else could happen? I need a very long vacation on a tropical island somewhere. Maybe when all this was done she could go somewhere and relax—somewhere preferably without many psychics. “Yeah right,” she mumbled. “I’ve got to learn to deal with this gift before I’ll have any peace.” “Don’t worry. I’ll help you learn to use it. It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” Her lips curved at the comforting feeling of Zach speaking inside her head. It never failed to

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soothe her. Opening her eyes, she glanced over at him. “You were born with it. What if I never get used to it?” “You will. The human brain can get used to almost anything.” Zach glanced past her shoulder, “Except that. What ugly colors to paint a school. Is that a high school?” He pulled off to the side of the road. Cassidy glanced out the window. “Hey, that’s my Alma Matter, I’ll have you know.” She turned around and punched him lightly in the shoulder. “But green and gold? What was your mascot, the fighting caterpillars?” Cassidy gave Zach her best glare. “No. It’s the Greenway High School Demons.” Zach laughed. “So you went from a Greenway Demon to an Arizona State Sun Devil?” “Yes, I did and I was on the committee that fought to keep the Demon as our mascot my senior year, right before my senior cello recital.” The hair on the back of her neck ruffled and a cold chill swept through her. Suddenly, she could smell wood polish, industrial carpet cleaner and stale sweat. She glanced back at the high school and the smell and the chill became stronger. “Are you okay, Cass?” Zach reached out to touch her cheek. “Yes, I think so.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms until the chill passed. “I was thinking about my senior recital when I started to smell wood polish, industrial cleaner and sweat.” Zach raised his eyebrows at her so she explained. “You know, that distinctive smell that every high school auditorium in the world has? I can still smell it, but it’s starting to dissipate.” Zach sniffed and then shook his head. “I don’t smell it. It must be psychic and not physical.” “Must be.” She looked back toward the school. The jumble of white buildings each had two thick stripes of green and gold with a large black number in the middle painted vertically next to each door. So many memories—she could see the vibrations of them in a physical wave surrounding everything. But whatever she’d just experienced was gone. Now it was just a school with a warm hum of happy memories. She turned to Zach. “I’ve got a bad feeling something is going to happen here, but I’m not sure what.” “Does it have anything to do with the Reaper?” “I don’t know. God, I hope not. I’d like to leave the good memories in tact.” *****

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“We’ve got a copycat.” Dix slapped down the morning paper onto Cassidy’s coffee table and sat down next to Kathy. Cassidy reached for the paper as Zach sat down next to her. Kathy paused, her coffee cup suspended half way to her mouth. “How do you know it isn’t the actual Reaper?” Zach shook his head. “No psychic residue on the body.” “I haven’t had any visions about any new murders, and the annoying blonde reporter is still alive.” Cassidy opened the paper and began to read. “It says the poor woman was stabbed thirty-seven times. That doesn’t sound like the Reaper anyway—he likes to inflict pain and fear, but nothing we’ve seen him do to date has been like this.” “Exactly,” agreed Zach. Dix sighed and looked around the room. They needed to find this bastard and find him quick. “If the copycats are already popping out of the woodwork, this is going to get a whole lot messier before it’s done. I know I was against this, but maybe Cassidy should try and contact him again.” Zach’s face creased into a scowl. “I don’t like it, but I think you’re right. We’ll have to wait until the Director calls. He’s expecting an update in twenty minutes. He also wants my mother’s contact information. It seems he’s trying to recruit more of her students for the FBI.” “I thought he didn’t believe in psychic powers,” asked Cassidy. Zach laughed. “He probably still doesn’t, but I think they’ve started to notice that the agents who have gifts have a better track record than those who don’t.” “Hey,” protested Dix. “I’ve done pretty damn well and I wouldn’t be able to tell a psychic if he bit me on the ass.” Everyone laughed at Dix’s graphic description. Zach held up a hand. “I wasn’t meaning to say you hadn’t, but you are at least psychically sensitive.” “What?” Shock flowed over Dix’s face as Zach’s statement registered. “Actually both of you are.” Cassidy pointed to both Kathy and Dix. “What?” Kathy echoed Dix’s shocked outburst. “Neither one of us have any psychic powers.” Zach took Cassidy’s hand in his and looked over at Dix and Kathy. “Do you remember the other morning…the er…sexual episode on the couch?” Dix cringed and noticed Cassidy blushing furiously and staring studiously at her lap. He shifted in his chair as the memories of even that brief contact with Kathy brought parts of his anatomy to

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attention that were not welcome in a room of four. “Yes,” said Dix and Kathy together, both looking decidedly uncomfortable. “But, Zach, you told me that was Cassidy’s talent, not one of ours,” Dix said. Cassidy cleared her throat and sat up straighter as if trying to retain her last shreds of dignity. “It is my gift. But in order for either of you to pick up on it, you have to be sensitive enough to receive it.” “So, the intuition or gut feeling I always have about things is really a psychic sensitivity?” Kathy asked, her face curious and open. Zach nodded. “Exactly, and you’ll be more open to signals from Cassidy because you two are emotionally close.” Kathy gave an uncharacteristic giggle rather than her warm cultured laugh. “So warn us next time you two are going to do some mattress aerobics, will you?” Cassidy snapped the paper open loudly, her blush still burning bright. “So, back to the copycat.” Dix tried to hide his grin. “Okay, so how about we try right after the Director calls? In the meantime, I’ve got an update on Holly Peters.” “Who?” asked Cassidy. “The perky blonde reporter you saw dead, who we’ve been tailing since this morning.” Dix stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back in his chair. “She’s a piece of work. Several wellknown city officials have restraining orders against her. The station has a lawyer dedicated solely to getting her out of trouble.” “Why wouldn’t they just fire her if she’s that high maintenance?” asked Kathy. Dix laughed. “Other than the fact she gets some damn juicy scoops for them, she’s pretty popular with the male viewers, from what her station manager says.” Zach shrugged. “I personally don’t like the Barbie-Doll silicone explosion look, but apparently I’m in the minority.” “Anyway,” added Dix, trying to steer them back onto the subject at hand. “Her latest and greatest assignment is finding out the cover up behind the Reaper case, and why the FBI keeps a stable of hidden psychics on its payroll.” “You’ve got to be kidding.” Cassidy refolded the paper and handed it to Kathy to read. Dix leaned over to read over Kathy’s arm. “Nope. I look pretty innocuous, so I went in and talked to her station manager. She thinks this story will break her out of the small time news category and make her career.” “Except

the

premise

of

her

story

isn’t

true,”

said

Zach

under

his

breath.

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“Now, Zach, you know news careers have been made and broken on less. Not everyone in the media has the integrity of Walter Conkrite,” Dix countered. Cassidy shook her head. “Even if she is a barracuda, I hope we can stop my vision from coming true.” She turned to Zach. “They aren’t set in stone once I see them—right?” “Nope,” Zach confirmed. “The choices we make can still affect the outcome.” Dix ran a hand through his hair. “I sincerely hope we can affect this outcome. I’m starting to get used to wading through crime scenes, and that isn’t good.” ***** Once again, Cassidy found herself sitting across from Zach, her hands linked with his across her kitchen table. “Why am I more nervous this time than I was last time?” Zach squeezed her hand. “Because you’ve had more time to think about it this time. Don’t worry, I’ll be right here beside you.” Cassidy smiled at Dix and Kathy, who stood looking down at she and Zach. Then she relaxed her shields and reached out a tendril of psychic energy toward Zach, linking their mind’s firmly. She let the familiar presence of his mind fade into the background of her awareness, and concentrated on the Reaper. Slowly, her energy reached out beyond Zach, but this time it didn’t search, it headed straight toward…something. Right before she knew it would connect, the energy stopped in place. The connection was still there, and she knew the Reaper was aware of her, but somehow he kept her from connecting with him. “Damn!” Another instance where she needed full control of her powers and didn’t have it yet. “Let me try,” said Zach inside her head. Zach’s consciousness flowed down her tendril of energy until it too reached the end and could go no farther. She knew Zach searched for a way past the barrier, but when he pulled back, she knew he hadn’t found one. He nudged her mentally, giving the signal to disengage, and she let out a breath and opened her eyes. “What happened?” Concern etched across Kathy’s lovely face. “I’m not sure,” admitted Cassidy. “He’s alive, I know that much. But I couldn’t connect with him. It’s almost like there’s a barrier around him keeping me from pinpointing him.” “Or,” all eyes turned to Kathy. She tapped a manicured index finger against her chin. “His mind could have deteriorated.” “Deteriorated?” asked Zach.

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Kathy nodded. “My grandmother died of Alzheimer’s, I remember watching helpless as her mind deteriorated.” “But the Reaper doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, he’s a psychopath.” Dix looked around the room. Zach pursed his lips. “True, but it’s a form of disease and it does affect the mind. As he goes more and more mad, he will begin to lose his sense of identity, if he hasn’t already.” Cassidy laid a hand on his arm. “I think I understand.” She looked at him for confirmation. “When I try and connect with him, I’m picturing Brian as I knew him before. But if he’s retreated so far away from reality that he doesn’t accept he’s the same person any longer, I’ll have problems finding him. Right?” Zach nodded. “That’s the only explanation I can see. You know it’s still him, so your power recognizes his psychic signature since it’s like a fingerprint. But if his reality has been altered, then his power is having difficulty recognizing your call to his “old” self.” The room fell into a pregnant silence as everyone mulled over what Zach said. Cassidy rolled the ramifications around in her mind. “Does that mean he’ll have problems contacting me?” “Sorry, but no.” Zach reached out and patted Cassidy’s arm. “You’re psychic signature hasn’t changed and neither has your sense of self or reality. He will be contacting the same “you” as before.” “Damn, nothing is ever simple, is it?” Dix broke in. “But now we know he’s alive. He’s probably been lying low and healing like Zach said.” Zach stood up. “I agree. He’s going to be even more fixated on Cassidy once he’s healed. I suggest we all get a good night’s sleep. Because in the morning we all have work to do.” “Even me?” asked Kathy, knowing she was the odd person out when it came to the Reaper. “Even you,” Zach confirmed. “You’ve become a large part of Cassidy’s support network, so don’t think you’re not important in this.” Cassidy smiled. Leave it to Zach to understand Kathy’s need to do something important to help. He had the ability to make everyone feel important and needed. It was one of the things she loved about him. Love—it still felt strange to even think it. But she did love him. No matter what happened with the Reaper, she promised herself she would find a way for them to be together. Zach continued. “Cass, you need to step up the training. Everything you learn will help against the Reaper, just don’t wear yourself out. We don’t know when he will attack and we all need to stay alert and fresh.”

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“I have to go play politics and keep the Director off our backs long enough to solve the case,” offered Dix. “No problem, better you than me, buddy, is all I have to say.” Cassidy knew how much Zach hated the administration and politics of his job and whenever possible, he would leave it to Dix. “Kathy,” Zach pointed over at her. “I know the Symphony is off for the next few days, do you have time to help me with some internet research?” Kathy laughed at Zach. “I don’t have to be psychic to know I don’t have the security clearance to see any of your research. No need to send me on a bogus internet search to make me feel included.” Zach looked like a kid caught stealing candy. Kathy walked to Zach and touched a hand to his cheek. “No need to look so sullen. I appreciate you trying to include me. I want to be here for Cassidy and cooking helps me calm my nerves, and apparently eating helps all of you do the same.” She gestured to encompass them all. “So, I think I’ll stick to what I’m good at.” “Does that mean you can make some more of those date pinwheel cookies and those crepes for breakfast?” Dix looked so hopeful and smitten at the same time, Cassidy had to hide a smile. “If you’re nice,” Kathy said kissing him quickly as he blushed. “And if you guys get some more groceries. I love to cook, but I hate to shop.” “For groceries anyway…” added Cassidy under her breath.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Cassidy sighed as she placed her fingers over the frets of her cello’s neck and rested the bow against the strings. Everyone had been in such a high state of alert for the past week waiting for the Reaper to make his next move, she didn’t have much time to play. And since nothing had happened, the high state of readiness was starting to wear on her nerves…and everyone else’s. Zach and Dix spent their time snapping at everyone, tracking down clues on the copycat killers and placating the Director and the press. She hadn’t seen Zach for more than an hour at a time, and none of it had been with just the two of them. Most of his nights were spent on surveillance shifts or doing some other work she wasn’t privy to. Not that she hadn’t kept busy. She’d spent most of her spare time practice exercises to develop her gifts. So between having visions and using her phantom touch, Cassidy had a week-long throbbing headache. On the upside, she now knew more about Zach’s grandmother. It made her sad that she’d never meet the generous woman she’d come to know through her psychic practices with the ring. On the downside, Kathy was still upset from when Cassidy mentally nudged her, causing her to drop an entire batch of Dix’s date pinwheel cookies onto the tile floor. Kathy, always easy going, tended to be very protective of her baking, and telling her she’d helped Cassidy hone her phantom touch hadn’t placated her one bit. Go figure. What she needed was some well-deserved stress relief. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of the cello under her fingers as she bowed the first sensuous note. The vibrations traveled through her knees and into her body, calming her and making her one with the music she loved. She let the notes flow through the cello without conscious thought. Music surrounded her, filling the living room, and she let all the stress from the past week fall away to be replaced by peace and tranquility which only came from her music. It wasn’t as sad or desperate as it had been the day Kathy heard her playing before their drinking binge, and Cassidy felt a twinge of guilt that she should be healing while several women were dead. But she knew from the death of her parents long ago, that life went on, even if you sometimes didn’t want it to. As she continued to play, the music took on more of a hopeful, relaxing quality and she let herself drift in a sea of sensations. Behind her eyelids a misty vision took shape. Without missing a note, she took a deep breath and let the vision come. If she had learned anything over the past few weeks, it was to roll with her gifts and see where they led her.

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She saw herself playing alone on a wooden stage staring out over a sea of hundreds of faces which comprised the audience. The acoustics were excellent and she could hear each note vibrate and echo around her. Not recognizing the auditorium she tried to make out architectural distinctions or even a printed sign, but there were none. As the music swelled to a crescendo, she opened her eyes and saw Zach. He wore a tux, and stood in the aisle below the stage studying her. His warm golden eyes were intense and sad. Several of the audience members turned to stare at him, but his attention was only for her. Even as her heart skipped a beat, she continued to play.

He was here!

Excitement and

contentment flowed through her, but she resisted the urge to reach out to him. There was so much left unsaid between them…. Zach’s physical presence intruded and the vision dissipated like fog melting off the ocean. Cassidy opened her eyes and realized she’d already stopped playing. Reaching up to touch her own face, she was surprised when her fingers came away wet. She sighed and wiped away the last remnants of her tears. Zach sat across the room waiting patiently. “You play beautifully. I’m amazed all over again each time I hear you. No description can compare to the first hand experience.” “Thank you.” She frowned and tried to hold on to the wisps of the vision, knowing they were important, but not understanding why. “You had a vision while you were playing, didn’t you?” He stood and walked toward Cassidy. “You look worried, would you like to talk about it?” Cassidy loosened her bow and shook her head. “It’s already slipping away. I can remember it vaguely, but the feelings were more important than the rest, and I can’t recall them.” Zach leaned his hands on the back of the recliner closest to Cassidy. “It sounds like you had a psychic déjà vu.” Her brow furrowed into a puzzled expression as she leaned her cello against the wall and faced him. “Isn’t that backwards? Déjà vu is where something you’re doing makes you think you’ve done it before. What I saw in the vision, didn’t feel familiar.” He smiled, his eyes dancing with mischief—the happiest expression she’d seen him wear all week. “Welcome to the psychic network. In our world, sometimes when you are relaxed and most at peace with yourself, you’ll see significant events and even feel them before they happen.” “So it’s a significant event of some type?” Cassidy brushed a curl away from her face that had fallen out of her ponytail. “But what if choices I make between now and then change the outcome and it

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doesn’t happen?” “I don’t claim to know everything, but every vision I’ve had that I would term ‘déjà vu’ has come to pass exactly as I saw it. Even if I didn’t remember it until I lived it.” Cassidy frowned. “I’ll ponder that later. I just got rid of my tension headache, I don’t want it back.” Zach winked at her. “How about if we go see if we can sweet talk Kathy out of some of the delicious food I smell?” “Hopefully she’s not still mad about those cookies….” “But it was a week ago.” “You’d be surprised. She’s still mad about a joke I played in college where I decorated some cupcakes she made for the church bake sale with birth control pill sprinkles.” “Hmmm, you’re right, I can’t imagine why she’s still upset over that one.” His voice laced with definite sarcasm, softened away with a small smile. ***** Zach slammed the phone down. “Son of a bitch! Damn psychos! Cassidy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “What is it?” “Another copy-cat murder and more confessions.” He rubbed his tired eyes and sat down at Cassidy’s kitchen table. “Apparently, five people have confessed to the Reaper murders.” “Please tell me one of the people they have in custody is actually Brian.” She sat down next to him so they were eye level. “No such luck. None of the five fit the profile and most of them even have air-tight alibis for one or more of the murders.” A crease formed between Cassidy’s eyebrows and her full mouth turned down into a frown. “Why do you even check out alibis if you know it isn’t them?” “We have to. We have to do due diligence and discount each one, because if we don’t and they did commit a crime and we miss it….” “I guess it makes sense, but don’t they get in trouble for confessing when they didn’t do anything?” He began to pace around the room like a caged cat. “Yes, but it’s not a huge offense.” Nothing about this day was going right and the past week of inactivity on the Reaper’s part had done nothing but make him jumpy. Now with the string of confessions and the few copy cats out there, his level of tension was at an all time high.

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Something had to give…and soon. Cassidy stepped into his pacing path, startling him. Zach stopped short and stared her down. “What?” he demanded. Cassidy stood serenely with her arms crossed in front of her and arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him. Her hazel eyes cool and piercing. “I know it’s been a difficult week for everyone, but you’re not the only one who needs to blow off steam.” “What the hell do you know about it?” He glowered down at her, only to be irritated when she continued to stare at him coolly. “I know none of us want more murders. I know we’re all hoping the Reaper makes his next move soon so we can put an end to this.” Her logical tone and even voice only served to fuel his growing temper. He hadn’t seen her for more than a few minutes all week, and here she was getting in his face. “Don’t start psychoanalyzing me, Cassidy. You don’t have any idea what I’m feeling.” For the first time, he saw temper spark in Cassidy’s eyes before they narrowed dangerously. She raised her chin defiantly and stood toe to toe with him. “I would if you hadn’t shut me out,” she said between gritted teeth. “You haven’t bothered to open your mind to me or even talk to me all week.” The truth of her statement hit hard and he pushed it aside as guilt only added fuel to his anger. “I’ve been too busy this week doing my job to baby sit you!” “Baby sit me?” she yelled, matching his tone. “Since I’m not the one throwing the tantrum here, I think you may have this backwards.” She poked a finger hard into his chest for emphasis. “Everyone has been stepping on eggshells around you all week because you’ve been taking the weight of the world on your shoulders. Last time I checked, Dix was the boss and you’re just the profiler with a piss-poor attitude. If you want to blow off some steam, that’s fine with me, but I won’t be used as the target.” Zach was lost for words. They stood toe to toe staring each other down until finally, the red haze of anger flowed away, leaving him feeling hollow and empty. He sighed and looked away, relaxing his stance and running his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been a bastard all week.” Taking her hand in his, he leaned his forehead against hers and let his eyes close and his mind open. “I haven’t meant to shut you out. I’m not used to having someone there to lean on.” Her rigid muscles softened against him and her mind opened. “And you’ve been trying to protect me.”

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He smiled. Damn, it felt good to have her inside his head again. His week had been so busy and stressful, he hadn’t even noticed how much he missed her until now. “I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he answered, his eyes still closed. Her lips brushed against his and the chains on his control broke. Plundering her mouth, he pulled her roughly against him as she matched his intensity with a moan. ***** Dix snatched a steaming brownie off the cooling rack and popped it in his mouth. The hot stillbubbling chocolate singed his tongue and he cursed inventively until an arched eyebrow from Kathy stopped his tirade. “It serves you right for stealing them before they’re even done.” Kathy smiled, taking the sting out of the comment. She handed Dix a can of soda so he could soothe his tongue. Drinking deeply, he sighed as a sip of bubbly soda cooled the burn, and he could actually taste some of the rich chocolate again. “What, no milk?” Kathy arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him, but couldn’t fully hide a lopsided grin. “Your hands aren’t broken, the fridge is right over there.” She nodded toward refrigerator. “You do realize you’ve cooked enough for the entire global FBI force and not just the five of us, right?” Kathy shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I have other outlets and hobbies. But unlike Cassidy, when I joined the symphony, playing the clarinet became my job instead of my hobby. To Cassidy, playing her cello is her lifeblood.” She slipped another batch of brownies in the oven and set the timer. “So, my outlet became cooking. And if I was the only one who ate it all, I’d weight three hundred pounds. So believe me, I’m thankful to all four of you.” And she’d still be damn sexy, thought Dix with a grin. It was in her bearing and personality and her very essence. Even if Kathy had been only marginally attractive, she would’ve intrigued Dix more than any woman he’d ever met. He watched as she began loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher. She smiled at him over her shoulder. “Besides, Cassidy has this great kitchen and she only uses it to cool her soda and beer and to store her skittles and pop tarts. So, I might as well enjoy it. And it’s nicer than the one in my apartment.” Dix swallowed hard. This woman was amazing—smart, funny, kind, caring and damn if she couldn’t cook just about anything so well it was sinful just to taste it. He’d be a total idiot if he didn’t at

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least tell her. But he was a regular guy, and she was a…goddess. What if she laughed in his face? She’d been nice to him, but did that mean he was even in her league? Only one way to find out. Dix took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like he did when he was getting ready to storm in to a room filled with well-armed bad guys. Which would actually be more comfortable right now, he thought grimly. “Kathy?” He waited until she glanced over her shoulder to look at him. “Do you think after this whole Reaper episode is over that you might be interested in going out on an actual date…with me?” He rushed on before she had a chance to turn him down. “I know we live in different cities, but I’ve never met anyone like you and I know I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t at least ask.” He watched in fascination as her sea green eyes sparkled and a slow smile spread over her face. “I think I’d be very interested. Washington D.C. isn’t that far away, Dix. It would be nice to see each other in less stressful circumstances and see if you’re still interested.” Dix heaved a sigh of relief and crossed the room to take her hand. “I have a feeling I’ll always still be interested.” He brought her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her silky skin. His heart jumped at the freedom of being able to touch this woman and know she welcomed it. If her hand felt that wonderful, he could only imagine how soft and welcoming other parts of her would feel. A rush of heat flared into his cheeks as his mind explored that particular tangent and all of its possibilities. His cell phone began a rhythmic buzz, breaking him out of his musings and he held up a finger to Kathy. “Hold that thought.” “Dixon,” he said into the phone. “Hey, boss, it’s Anderson. I’m calling to see if I can get a replacement to tail Holly Peters.” Dix heard Anderson fumbling for words.

“I…I wouldn’t normally ask, but my wife just called and

well…she’s in labor.” “Congrats, Anderson! Hopefully the baby will be beautiful like Brenda and not ugly like you.” Dix smiled as Anderson’s nervous laughter carried over the phone line. Anderson had been extremely nervous leaving his wife in Washington to come on this posting since her due date loomed close. “Go ahead and request a replacement agent with my authorization to take over first thing in the morning. I’ll come out and relieve you now, so you get your butt on the first plane out to D.C.” Anderson gave a relieved sigh, clearly audible over the phone line. “Thanks, Dix, I appreciate

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it.” “Just send Brenda my love and I’d better get a cigar.” Kathy poured detergent into the dishwasher and then closed it and pushed the start button. “Who’s having a baby?” “Anderson’s wife. They’ve been trying for years to get pregnant. I can’t rob him of the big moment just to tail someone we aren’t even sure is in danger. Especially since everything’s been slow for the last week.” “You’re a very sweet man, Dix,” Kathy patted him on the cheek. “I’ll make you up some sandwiches and some coffee for your stakeout.” He was actually tailing someone, not going on a stakeout, but he didn’t bother correcting her terminology. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and went to find Zach. When Dix did find him, he wished he’d just left a note instead of seeking him out. Zach was training Cassidy on using her gifts. They sat cross-legged on the living room floor, facing each other with their eyes closed. Of course, they were bickering…as usual. Dix slowed as he hit a wall of oppressive energy just inside the room. Now that he knew this was an effect of him being psychically sensitive, he took it in stride, but it still took getting used to. What a difference a few weeks make! “Oops, sorry guys. Didn’t mean to interrupt.” He began to back out of the room. “I just had something to tell Zach.” “Don’t worry about it.” Cassidy stood and stretched. “You’re a great excuse to take a break, and I need one. As well as one of those brownies I smell.” She shot a saucy grin over her shoulder at Zach and then kissed Dix lightly on the lips as she walked by him and out toward the kitchen. “I think I should interrupt her studies more often.” Dix laughed as Zach narrowed his eyes as he unfolded himself stiffly from the floor. “Don’t you have your own woman in the other room?” Zach asked archly. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” Dix smiled as he remembered the twinkle in Kathy’s eyes when she said she’d go out with him. Maybe he finally found the woman he’d been looking for. “Earth to Dix.” Zach waved a hand in front of Dix’s face. “Sorry, just went on a trip there for a minute.” He shook his head and laughed at himself. He was getting a bit ahead of where he should be at this point. She agreed to go out with him, not have his children. Yet… He smiled at the fun he’d have convincing her. Somehow he knew they would be perfect together.

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“Didn’t you need to talk to me?” Amusement danced in Zach’s eyes. “Yes, sorry.” Dix shook his head and chuckled at himself again. “Anderson just called. Brenda is in labor, so I’m going to go relieve him until his replacement arrives in the morning.” “That’s terrific!” Zach slapped Dix on the shoulder. “We’ll have to set up a congratulations party with cigars and some good Irish whiskey when we get back. They’ve been waiting for this baby forever.” Dix nodded. Everyone liked Anderson. He made a mental note to organize a celebration when they all got back to D.C. Maybe Kathy and Cassidy could even fly out…. He reined himself in as he realized he was going off on a tangent again. “So, anyway, I wanted you to know I’ll be tailing Holly Peters until six A.M.” “You want me to go with you? Surveillance is pretty boring by yourself and Cassidy’s getting strong enough to protect herself for a few hours while we’re gone. Besides, it will keep Cassidy and I from killing each other.” Dix didn’t bother to hide a snort of amusement, and Zach shot him a scathing glare. “Don’t worry about it, you stay here and work with Cassidy. I’ll be back in the morning and we can decide where to go from there with the case.” Dix slapped Zach on the shoulder. “Besides, this way I get the car radio all to myself.” “I don’t mind some country now and then, Dix, but there’s a place in life for some good classic rock too, you know.” Dix grinned. “I’m with you, but tonight is a country night.” He waggled his eyebrows at Zach and dramatically clutched both his hands over his heart. “Kathy said she’d go out with me on an actual date when this is all over.” “You mean the mutual orgasms on the sofa don’t count?” “Smart ass!” Dix scowled. “Hell no, they don’t count.” He poked Zach hard in the chest with his finger. “It will only count when we make each other come…as in Kathy and me. Not because you two are leaking psychic sex vibes all over the house!” “Fair enough.” Zach laughed as he held up his hands in surrender. “By the way, how are you and Cassidy doing? I know the quiet streak has stretched us all to our breaking point. You two seem to do nothing but bicker lately.” A crease formed between Zach’s eyebrows and a worried look marred his face. “We’re doing as well as can be expected. I think we’ll both be glad when this is over and we can explore a relationship without the drama and murders and death. It’s definitely caused some friction.”

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Dix nodded and hid his smile. He knew Zach and Cassidy were perfect together, but since both were such strong, stubborn personalities, there would never be a dull moment—even without the heightened emotions of the last few weeks. It would definitely keep their lives interesting. “Well, don’t forget, we still need to find the Reaper before we can put this thing to bed. Maybe we can try again tomorrow. See you in the morning.” Zach nodded. “Okay, but you’re missing out. Kathy said she’s making manicotti for dinner tonight.” Dix groaned. “Now you’re just being damned mean.” Zach knew manicotti was one of Dix’s favorite things in the world. “Maybe I can talk her into saving me some.” ***** “What’s up, Dix?” came Zach’s voice over the line. “Interesting stuff, Hatcher. Ms. Peters is dressed in painted on red leather and looks like she charges by the hour. She just went into a topless bar called The Doll House and I’m going in.” Dix heard Cassidy laugh in the background. “Tell Dix not to work too hard,” came Cassidy’s muffled voice. “Yeah, yeah, I heard her. Just mark me. I’ll check in in twenty.” “Mark,” Zach replied and Dix knew he was noting the time. The inside of the bar smelled like sweat and stale sex laced with warm beer and urine. Dix moved to a small table in the corner where he could put his back to the wall and still have a good view of the entire floor. The color scheme screamed cotton-candy pink and the theme tried and failed to be an innocent reminder of a child’s doll house. A worn raised stage took up the entire front wall graced with a single golden pole. Chairs outlined the stage where desperate bored-looking men gave their money up-close-andpersonal to one of the dancers. The current dancer was topless, but dressed in pigtails and a school girl skirt with spike heels. Pretty in a girl-next-door way, she wasn’t very blessed in the curves department. Dix shook his head. “There really ought to be rules about working in a titty bar—like you need to have titties,” he said under his breath. He looked up as Holly—he couldn’t think of her as Ms. Peters in the flame red street-walker getup—came out of the bathroom and sat in one of the seats against the stage. Immediately, a musclebound bald man wearing a T-Shirt that said “Doll Keeper” sat next to her. Must be one of the bouncers. He ordered a beer from the waitress and watched as Holly

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nonchalantly slipped the Doll Keeper a wad of cash and then leaned forward to whisper something in his ear. The Doll Keeper laughed and then stood and motioned for her to follow. Dix watched as they headed to the back, probably to a private party room. Dix turned his cell phone to silent and motioned for the waitress. When she leaned over, giving him a view of her ample store-bought cleavage, he held up a fifty dollar bill. “I’ve got a proposition for you.” She gave him a bored look. “Yeah, yeah, where have I heard that one before? I’m a waitress, I don’t do table dances.” She turned to walk away and Dix grabbed her arm. “I don’t mean that kind of proposition. I just want to go back to the private rooms…alone.” She looked surprised, but offered no comment. Probably she got stranger requests on a nightly basis. “The private room is in use right now, but I can let you know when it’s available.” She reached for the fifty and Dix pulled it back just out of her reach. “I’ll make it one hundred if you take me back there now.” Dix pulled out another fifty and leaned closer to her and said, “I like to listen.” He winked. She shrugged and then nodded in understanding. “No problem, honey. Watch me and I’ll motion for you when it’s okay to come on back. Chey won’t like it,” she said, motioning to the burly Doll Keeper who stood back behind the bar. “But what he doesn’t know won’t hurt either of us.” She pulled the two fifties out of Dix’s grasp and secreted it into her cleavage. Chey? The Doll Keeper built like a linebacker was named Chey? Dix bet no one ever teased the guy about it and lived. Two minutes later, Dix stood just inside the private room. It was actually an alcove of darkened booths in the back. He assumed this was where dancers gave their ultra-private dances—the kind that weren’t exactly legal. He heard faint male grunting noises and the sound of skin slapping against skin. The smell of stale sex was stronger here, confirming his suspicions. The sound came from the booth against the far back wall, he inched forward feeling like a peeping tom. Thankfully, the only illumination came from the light streaming through the partially open door, which led to the back of the stage. It wouldn’t be good for his health if Chey the Doll Keeper or Holly and her companion saw him snooping. He continued to move forward while the male grunting became more urgent. The slapping sound came faster and faster until the man cried out in release. What is it with all the minute-men in the world? No wonder women have a bad perception of the

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male species. The smell of death and blood suddenly hit him hard. He peered around the side of the darkened booth and his eyes widened in horror. His gun was in his hand before the thought reached his brain. “Hold it right there.” His gun pointed straight between the eyes of the Reaper. His hand remained steady while his brain busily noted details as the world dropped into slowmotion. Holly Peters lay dead and naked on the floor, her legs still spread, a smear of semen visible on her thigh. A large, bloody gash ran along her scalp and a steady stream of blood flowed down between her lifeless staring eyes. There were several stab wounds in each breast, leaving them a bloody mass— her nipples looking like a cherries sitting on top a ruined cake. A knife covered in blood lay a few feet away from her. The knowledge the Reaper had fucked her after he killed her would sicken Dix later, but right now he let his training take over. The Reaper sat back on his feet with his arms raised, palms out toward Dix. Blood smeared down the side of his face and torso where he’d leaned against her wounds while he was inside her. He wore nothing but a smug grin. Dix checked the urge to erase the grin from The Reaper’s face—permanently. All the details took Dix only seconds to process. But immediately, he knew something didn’t feel quite right. The hairs on the back of his neck began to ruffle, and he decided to shoot first and ask questions later. As his finger tightened against the trigger, a searing white-hot pain ripped into his skull. He swayed against a wave of dizziness, and saw his shot go wide, missing the Reaper by a breath. Dix was driven to his knees, but fought to keep his gun in his hand. Panic rose like bile in the back of his throat. “Father, how nice of you to choose someone with psychic sensitivity to inhabit,” the Reaper said as he stood over Dix. “I do usually prefer the females. But killing you twice will be worth it.” “Dix!” he heard Zach’s voice inside his head. “Zach?” he said, his words slurring against the pain. He fought to bring up the gun or to move away from the Reaper’s onslaught, but couldn’t find the strength. The Reaper began to circle Dix like a predator toying with his prey. “Come now, father, you can do better than this. I was always the one who was too weak for you to be proud of, remember?”

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“Dix, open your mind to me!” Dix heard Zach’s voice and willingly welcomed a wave of strength, which cut through the pain. “No!” The Reaper screamed and grabbed the gun out of Dix’s hand before he could recover enough to aim it. “You’re mine, father!” Dix pushed to his feet unsteadily and tried to turn and run, but the Reaper hit him hard across the face with the gun. Hot blood blossomed over his right eye where the gun sight cut him, and his ears rang from the impact of the hard metal against flesh. Fear welled and adrenaline pumped—Dix marshaled all of his strength to hold out against the Reaper. He refused to give up without a fight. “No, Dix, you’re shutting me out! Let me in!” Dix felt Zach’s anguish, but it was too late. The momentary lapse of Dix’s borrowed strength gave the Reaper an opening. Pain seared through his head and the room began to blur. Small black dots swam in front of his vision and he felt his body fall limply to the floor. “Kathy, I really wanted to have the chance to talk you into marrying me. Sorry…I’ll do better next time.”

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Cassidy stood poised at the edge of her backyard pool, looking down into the shimmering crystal blue water. She enjoyed the pricks of heat assaulting her skin as the one-hundred-twelve-degree Arizona heat shimmered around her. Taking a deep breath, she dove into the pool. The cool, velvety water caressed her like a lover, melting away the heat and leaving only soft comfort in its wake. She swam the length of the pool underwater and then surfaced at the edge of the deep end. She brought her feet up against the side of the pool, kicking off in a backstroke toward the shallow end. Cassidy tried to empty her mind as she continued to swim laps. The familiar comfort of activity as her muscles stretched and heated settled over her. This routine never failed to help her to relax. Never a time for thinking, but for just being and doing. With every breath, she inhaled the scent of blooming oleanders and ripe, hot desert. A sense of peace seeped into her with every movement. This was the first time since Zach came into her life that she had a chance to take a swim—and she was enjoying it. Stabs of guilt assaulted her and she resolutely ignored them. She badly needed a little normalcy in her life after the events of the last few weeks. And, she reminded herself, Dix wouldn’t fault her for trying to relax while she dealt with her grief. So much for keeping my mind blank. The creak of her pool gate opening startled her. Halfway through a lap back to the shallow end, she looked up into Kathy’s haggard face. “Hi.” Kathy walked across the patio and sat down on the edge of the pool. She kicked off her sandals and dipped her feet in the water to rest on the first step. Cassidy let relief flow through her and swam toward her friend. “Where have you been? I’ve left tons of messages for you. I was getting worried.” Kathy reached down to trail her index finger through the clear blue water. “Sorry, I just needed…time.” Cassidy studied her friend critically. “Are you ready to talk?” Kathy’s clothes hung on her frame, her face gaunt, her skin stretched tight over her bones. The healthy bloom that usually rode high on her cheeks starkly absent. Cassidy hoped she’d done the right thing by allowing Kathy to be alone for the last few days. “Yes.” Kathy met Cassidy’s gaze and a small, sad smile curved her lips. “And thanks.” “For what?”

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Cassidy stepped out of the pool and an immediate chill ran over her as the greedy dry air began to evaporate the water from her skin. “I know it goes against your personality to let me sequester myself when you know I’m hurting. But I needed it.” Kathy turned and looked over her shoulder at Cassidy. “Dix’s death hit me harder than I thought.” Cassidy grabbed her towel and began to dry off. “I think because of the heightened situation, you and Dix got close fast.” Kathy gazed out over the pool, turning away from Cassidy. “Like you and Zach.” A band around Cassidy’s heart constricted and she rubbed at it absently with the heel of her hand. Since the funeral, Zach said very little to anyone and kept his shields closed tight. All attempts to get him to talk or open up met with resistance and outright hostility. That he could so easily shut her out of his life still hurt. She realized she hadn’t answered Kathy’s question when she saw her friend staring at her critically. Cassidy quickly averted her gaze, sat down on one of the patio chairs and began to dry her hair. “What have I missed?” Kathy’s eyebrow arched in question. Cassidy smiled and shook her head. “Oh no, you don’t.” She waggled her index finger at Kathy. “We’re talking about you here.” No way would Cassidy allow her friend to divert the conversation before she made certain Kathy was alright. Kathy stepped out of the pool and sat in a patio chair facing Cassidy. “I’m…better.” She took Cassidy’s hand and squeezed it. “Really,” she said and then smiled. “He’s the first man who truly appreciated me for my intellect, sense of humor and all my other assets not directly associated with my looks.” Kathy gestured to herself to demonstrate and then sighed and leaned back against the chair. “I’ve never had a man touch my soul until Dix. I thought we had all the time in the world, but now he’s gone.” Her eyes welled up with tears and she blinked them back. “It’s just going to take some time to get over the loss of the ‘what could have been.’” “I’m so sorry, Kath. Is there anything I can do?” The breeze toyed with a wayward strand of Kathy’s hair and she absently tucked it behind her ear. “You’re doing it.” She held Cassidy’s gaze. “I mean it. I’ll heal. I’m thankful I was blessed to know such a terrific man, even for the small amount of time I did. I only regret I didn’t take better advantage of the time we had.”

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“But…” Kathy held up a hand, forestalling Cassidy’s objection. “I know. You’re going to tell me that under the circumstances, we really didn’t have a lot more time to spend. But knowing what I know now, I would’ve found some.” Cassidy nodded and let a companionable silence fall between them.

She couldn’t help

comparing Kathy’s feelings of regret and loss to her own, and felt guilty for it. Hadn’t she lost Zach the moment Dix died? Maybe not physically, but in every way that mattered. The sharp stab of guilt for not being able to help Dix plunged deeper this time. Kathy touched Cassidy’s arm, interrupting her thoughts. “Has he talked to you at all since the funeral?” Cassidy shook her head and sighed as hot tears welled up unbidden and slid down her cheeks unchecked. She’d kept her tears under wraps since the funeral. Maybe it was time to let them flow. “I’m sorry. I know you’re grieving too and I haven’t been any help and apparently neither has Zach. We both deserted you.” Cassidy leaned her head back against the top of the patio chair and closed her eyes. “It’s not anyone’s fault. I know intellectually that everyone deals with grief in their own way.” She opened her eyes and sat up in her chair. “But psychically, I can see the waves of grief and anger pour off Zach like Niagara Falls. It’s frustrating to see so clearly what he’s going through and not be allowed to be there for him.” She scrubbed away her tears. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose you, and I know that’s got to be what it’s like for Zach to lose Dix.” “Especially when he could open his mind to you and you would know exactly what he’s feeling,” Kathy agreed. “He’s been working around the clock trying to track down the Reaper. But so far Brian—the Reaper, I mean—is just taunting him.” Kathy bolted up in her chair and her concerned gaze bored into Cassidy. “He hasn’t contacted you again, has he?” Heat crept into Cassidy’s cheeks as she remembered the few times she’d tried to contact the Reaper on her own over the last few days. Anger and fear had frayed her focus and she hadn’t been able to find him. But Zach could have—should have—asked for her help. His reluctance to endanger her might be putting other women or even Zach himself, at risk. “No, he hasn’t contacted me.” But I almost wish he would. I owe him for Dix.

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Kathy relaxed back against the chair. “Good, you had me worried there for a second.” Cassidy wanted to divert the topic away from contact between her and the Reaper before she guilted herself into telling Kathy she’d tried. “So, do you want to come in and have some lunch?” “No, thanks. I just wanted to come by so you wouldn’t worry. I need to go grocery shopping and do some errands.” Kathy shrugged her shoulders. “I haven’t done anything productive since the funeral. And it’s time to jump back into life.” “Are you sure you’re okay by yourself?” Cassidy asked. The shadows under Kathy’s eyes accentuated the sea green color, making her seem more vulnerable and fragile. “I could get dressed and go with you.” “I’m fine.” Kathy stood and smoothed down her skirt and slipped back into her sandals. “Besides, you’d have to take your protection entourage.” “True, but I’ll round them up if you need me.” She placed her hands on Kathy’s shoulders and smiled. Kathy reached up and squeezed the hand resting lightly on her right shoulder. “I’ll be fine. But I love you for worrying.” She stepped through the pool gate and turned back to Cassidy. “I’ll call you tonight and maybe tomorrow we can make your bodyguards suffer through a chick-flick.” “Deal.” Cassidy stepped forward to give Kathy a quick hug. Cassidy stared after her friend’s retreating form. Now that she was sure things were all right with Kathy, maybe it was time to confront Zach. She’d been trying to respect the fact Zach grieved the only way he knew how, but he wasn’t doing himself any favors by funneling his feelings of loss into revenge. Sometimes the people you loved needed a good swift kick in the ass. ***** Zach pulled the car into his driveway and sighed when he saw Cassidy on the front porch swing waiting for him. He scowled and resigned himself to the upcoming confrontation. Black as a moonless desert night, his mood roiled inside him and he was more than willing to share. Ever since Dix’s funeral, he’d been working non-stop to track down the Reaper—to no avail. Not to mention fighting off attempts by the Director to remove him from the case. But since he was the subject matter expert on the Reaper, it would be difficult to transition to anyone else, and the Director knew it. So, in the media frenzy that followed Dix and Holly Peters’ deaths, the Director reluctantly decided to let Zach stay on. Zach strongly suspected the Director knew he would work the case

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regardless. Cassidy stood, interrupting his thoughts and reached out a tendril of mental energy as he approached. The aura of calm she exuded only served to fuel his mood, and he resolutely brushed her overture aside and started past her. She stepped into his path, causing him to stop short. Her calm, cool eyes studied him, and she held her arms loosely at her sides. “What?” Zach yelled at her. In a maddeningly serene voice she said, “It’s time you talked to someone, Zach.” “Don’t start with your psychobabble. I’ve got too much to do.” He pushed past her and started toward the house. “Coward! Dix would be ashamed to see you like this. He’d kick your stubborn ass.” He winced and his steps faltered as the truth of the remark hit home. But Dix isn’t the one left here to deal with this. I am. Fresh anger at his friend welled up, surrounding him. He turned and stood toe to toe with her. “Dix would want me to finish the case. I’m busy doing my job, so stay out of my way.” Guilt sliced through him as he saw a flicker of hurt cross her face, only to be replaced again with the calm, cool mask. He buried the guilt in anger. Turning on his heel, he stomped toward the front door. “Don’t shroud your actions as something you’re doing for Dix, you’re doing this for yourself. You’re letting your emotions endanger the case.” He hit a brick wall of realization and stopped, frozen in front of the door. Anger drained away slowly and left him hollow and raw inside. He much preferred the anger. “Damn,” he muttered. She was right. Dix would chew his ass for the way he’d been acting. And he’d give anything to have his friend alive and well enough to do just that. His throat constricted against a well of loss and grief that threatened to swallow him whole, and he breathed through it until he regained control. Slowly, he straightened and turned to face her. “I’m sorry.” He crossed to her and leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead and then stepped back and captured her gaze. “I’m just not ready to deal with this right now. I need some time.” Cassidy reached up to stroke his cheek and he captured her hand in his. “Zach.” She sighed. “I can’t watch you continue to hurt like this. You need to let someone in. If not me, then someone….”

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“No!” he snapped, surprising them both. “I can’t afford to take time to let anyone in right now. I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She trained a studied gaze on him and he cringed knowing he couldn’t hide anything from her. “You’re angry at me for not saving Dix.” He turned away from her and started toward the front door, the truth bit into him like sharp, angry teeth. “That’s ridiculous,” he said over his shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault. It was the Reaper’s and I’ll make sure he pays.” He pushed open the front door and sighed as she followed him inside, close on his heels. Once she got an idea in her head, nothing could shake it loose. An annoying trait he usually respected and shared if he was honest. “I don’t think it is ridiculous,” she persisted. Zach walked away from her and headed toward the kitchen. If she was going to psychoanalyze him, he needed a beer…maybe a keg. Couldn’t she see he held his emotions in check by sheer willpower since Dix’s death? If she prodded much more, he’d lose his fingertip hold on his control, and grief would come crashing in on him. Then what good would he be to the case or anyone? He popped the top off his beer and drank deep. “Can we not do this right now?” “I don’t think it’s ridiculous.” She repeated the words as if he hadn’t spoken. “You’re hurting. Your best friend is dead and you feel like I could’ve stopped it.” The back of his throat burned and he turned away from her, heading back toward the bedroom. He knew logically, she didn’t have enough control over her power to stop it, but emotionally, his heart needed to blame someone for the grief and loss of his best friend. The walls around his grief shuddered and groaned. He felt like he stood on the precipice of a very high cliff, and one small gust of wind would push him over the edge to his destruction on the rocks below. “Cass, please. Don’t do this…,” Cassidy stood just inside the bedroom door. “I’m not angry with you for blaming me, Zach. I’ve been doing enough of that all by myself.” Zach couldn’t meet her gaze and only sat down heavily on the bed. His heightened senses made the room seem too loud, too bright—too overwhelming. He wished fleetingly for escape. “I’ve been thinking, if only I practiced harder or if only I’d paid more attention when you were teaching me, Dix would be alive today.” She walked toward the bed until she stood in front of him. “But no matter how much I second guess myself—it won’t bring him back.”

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Cassidy tucked an auburn curl behind her ear, which had fallen out of her ponytail. “And since I can see your emotions flowing off of you in waves, you shutting me out hasn’t kept me from seeing how you feel.” How stupid he’d been. Of course she would be able to see his emotions. Even fully shielded, their bond was too strong to ever shut each other out entirely. All his attempts to steer clear of her until he could work past his own grief and blame had been futile. Long, cool fingers lifted his chin and he raised his eyes to meet her open gaze. The love he saw reflected in her deep hazel eyes put more chinks in the wall of his emotions. Cassidy knew in his secret soul he’d blamed her for Dix’s death, and yet she was still here. How could that be? How could she understand something like that, let alone forgive him? Her love battered against his shields until they threatened to collapse again. “Cassidy, please. I don’t want to do this….” “I love you too much to let you continue to hurt yourself. I’m not asking you to forgive me— hell, I haven’t forgiven myself—but let me be here for you.” Forgive her? He felt like a slug because he blamed her in the first place and here she stood asking forgiveness. He didn’t deserve the love of this woman. Deep inside himself, the leaking damn holding back his emotions burst, and he experienced a flash flood of pent up grief. Loss and anger rolled over him like a tidal wave. When the first hot tear ran a scalding path down his face, Cassidy stepped forward to stand between his legs and pulled his head against her chest. The rollercoaster of emotions pulled and twisted him mercilessly. Only her fingers stroking his hair while sobs racked his body from the depths of his soul, anchored him. He’d known he would have to deal with Dix’s death sooner or later, but he wanted to keep it at bay until the case was complete and he could do it alone. “You don’t ever have to be alone, Zach. I’m here for as long as you’ll let me be.” For some reason, her statement made him both relieved and scared. He sobbed against her even harder. ***** Zach woke with a start. Cassidy lay curled against him warm and safe. He wallowed in the sensation, letting her warmth seep into him. The room was bathed in darkness, but everything seemed quiet. He reached out mentally, but could detect nothing out of place to tell him what woke him. “Must’ve been dreaming,” he murmured against Cassidy’s hair.

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Slowly, he slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. He tucked the comforter back around her and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead before pulling on a pair of sweatpants and grabbing his Nextel and gun. His head, raw and hollow from the crying, oddly felt better now. As if some of the grief and pain had drained from his body with the tears.

Funny, he realized he hadn’t cried since his

grandmother’s funeral when he was five. Cassidy had stayed until he ran out of tears, and then, as if understanding his needs, she pulled him down on the bed and curled him against her like a child. He must’ve fallen asleep immediately, because he didn’t remember anything until waking up with her a few minutes ago. He owed a debt of gratitude to her for pushing him to let go of his grief. It was still there, but dulled somehow. Yawning, he stepped out into the hallway. Last night was the most sleep he’d gotten since Dix’s funeral, but his body still pulled him to return to bed. Thanks to training too well ingrained to be ignored, he decided to make sure everything was as it should be before going back to sleep. “Watson?” he said into his Nextel. “Yo, boss. What are you doing up?” Zach smiled. Watson had been assigned to the case as Anderson’s replacement—even though Anderson returned as soon as he heard about Dix’s death. Watson’s hard-edge New York accent reminded Zach of a mafia boss. Anyone who saw the stocky agent drew the same conclusion. “Something woke me and I thought I’d do a perimeter check to be safe. Anything going on out there?” “Negative. Although they have great country stations here in Phoenix. Camel country is doing a Toby Keith marathon.” Zach shook his head as a small slice of pain cut across his heart. He remembered Dix talking about country music the night he died. Taking a deep breath, he let the pain pass. “You know, I never pictured Tony Soprano listening to Toby Keith.” “I may sound like a mob boss, but I’m a country boy at heart,” Watson said in the worst country accent Zach had ever heard. Zach laughed. “I’ll check back in when the perimeter is clear.” He pulled on his tennis shoes and slipped out the back door of the house. His Glock felt cold and solid in his hand as he stood and let his eyes adjust to the backyard darkness. He scanned the yard, but nothing seemed out of place.

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Inching along the wall, he peered around the side of the house, alert for anything suspicious. But the side yard was empty and quiet. He was beginning to think the uneasy feeling which woke him was a product of his subconscious running rampant. When he completed a circuit around the house and reached the back door again, he pulled out his Nextel and pushed the radio button. “Watson?” “Yo, boss.” “All’s clear. But keep an eye out, will ya? Something doesn’t feel quite right.” “You got it. Get some sleep.” Zach turned and as he grasped the doorknob, a sudden sharp pain lanced across the back of his head. His last thought as he slipped to the concrete was, “Damn, I hate it when I’m right.” ***** Cassidy woke with a start. Instinctively, she reached out in bed next to her, but found it empty and cold under her fingers. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention and an involuntary shudder jolted through her. Something is wrong. Very wrong. She reached out mentally for Zach and panicked when she found…nothing. She couldn’t even start the connection. Her thoughts raced. “Oh my God.” Her hand came up to cover her mouth as she remembered what Zach told her when they’d tried to contact the Reaper. He’s still alive or you wouldn’t have been able to send out energy along his connection at all. Does this mean Zach is dead? She shook her head denying what all the logical evidence screamed at her. “No!” She sobbed into her hands. “Get a grip, Cassidy,” she yelled into the empty room. “If Zach was dead, you would have sensed it. There has to be some other explanation.” Cassidy groped blindly in the dark until she found her cell phone and immediately dialed Dix. The phone had just begun to ring when it hit her. Dix is gone. Now Zach is missing. Panic threatened to engulf her and she beat it back by sheer willpower and scrubbed her hands over her face. “I’m ready for you now, Cassidy.” She jumped as the Reaper’s voice sounded inside her head leaving a slimy-feeling touch behind. “This is between you and me.”

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Cassidy sat up straighter against the headboard of her bed. “He’s just trying to scare me. Zach has to be okay, I didn’t feel him die.” She said it like a mantra, willing herself to believe it. Self-satisfied laughter sounded inside her head. “I’ve already dealt with Special Agent Hatcher. But just in case you won’t come to me on your own, I’ve invited your friend Kathy to join us.” Disbelief flooded through Cassidy. The Reaper tried to trick them several times and they fell for it. No more! Her cell phone still rested in her hand, she lifted it and hit the speed dial for Kathy’s house. As the rings continued and the machine clicked on, tears began to stream down her face, the air from the ceiling fan making the wet lines cold. The weight of the world settled firmly on her shoulders and her limbs felt heavy and weak. The Reaper has Kathy. This can’t be happening. “Come to the Greenway High School auditorium, alone. I know exactly how long it will take for you to get here, so I’ll give you fifteen minutes. And I’ll know if you contact anyone. Don’t, if you want your friend to live.” “How do I know she’s still alive?” “You may reach out to Kathy, no one else.” The connection slammed shut with a finality that left her cold and shaken. Closing her eyes, she reached out for Kathy. She could feel her friend scared, but alive. Since Kathy didn’t have any substantial psychic powers, Cassidy couldn’t do more than send her reassuring feelings and hope she could pick up on them. In minutes, she steered her car racing down Thirty-Fifth Avenue toward Greenway Road at twice the legal speed limit. “I’m done being the victim. He started this. I’ll damned well finish it!” ***** “Zach!” He felt himself being shaken and then slapped hard. The concrete of the back porch was cold and hard under him. He tried to piece together how he ended up here. The last thing he remembered, he was finishing a perimeter check and getting ready to go back inside. “Zach!” Anderson’s voice was insistent. Another slap. He tried to open his eyes, but they were heavy and leaden. The urgency in Anderson’s voice shook him enough to use all his willpower to force his protesting eyelids open. Anderson’s concerned face came into blurry focus. “What happened?” His voice sounded

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groggy and disoriented in his ears. “You’ve got to wake up, Zach. Someone hit you and then drugged you.” “How do you know that? There’s a pinprick of blood on your neck, I’m assuming a syringe.” Zach struggled upright and reached out to Cassidy. I can’t reach out mentally at all. They must’ve used some really heavy duty drug to knock my powers totally out.” Fear rose up inside him pushing the hazy effects of the drug away and bringing his mother into focus. “Cassidy?” he asked, sitting up unsteadily. Anderson shook his head. “I showed up to relieve Watson and couldn’t get an answer. I found him in his car—he’s been drugged, but he’s alive. I checked the house—yours and hers. Cassidy’s gone and so is her car. The news knocked the breath from Zach and he had to concentrate to drag air back into his lungs. Get a grip, Zach. You have to find Cassidy. He grabbed Anderson’s shirt. “I’m okay. I need you to help me find Cassidy, my powers are still fuzzy.” “I’ve put out an APB on her car, but we have no idea where she’s gone.” Anderson was right. She could be anywhere, but Zach knew wherever she was, the Reaper had her. He had to find her, to save her. A memory ticked his consciousness from when he and Cassidy had been driving. He looked up at Anderson. “She’s at Greenway High School. Let’s go, I’ll call for backup on the way.”

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN Cassidy quietly opened the front doors of the school auditorium and stepped inside. The dark hallway smelled like a musty combination of wood polish, sweat and industrial carpet cleaner. Reaching out with her gifts, she sensed the Reaper and Kathy beyond the inner doors. The metallic taste of fear rose in the back of her throat, choking her. Her watch told her she’d used up most of her allotted fifteen minutes, so she didn’t dare dawdle. “If I’m ever going to get the hang of using my powers, now would be a really good time.” Taking a deep breath, she reached out and opened the inner auditorium doors and stepped through. The Reaper stood too close to Kathy on the main stage just behind the orchestra pit holding a handgun that looked suspiciously like Zach’s Glock 9mm. Cassidy quickly reminded herself Zach had to be alive or she would have sensed his death. Kathy sat tied to a chair next to the Reaper. Behind them, the stage was arranged for a band concert and contained dozens of chairs in a concert set, as well as various percussion instruments ranged along the back wall of the stage. Leave it to the Reaper to have such a sense of ego he wants to meet on a stage. Kathy looked terrified, but alive and unhurt. Cassidy breathed a sigh of relief and made a mental note to be careful to keep Kathy away from the orchestra pit. From here, Cassidy couldn’t tell if it was empty or full of chairs and possibly instruments. But neither would be a soft landing from a six-foot drop. “Run, Cassidy!” Kathy screamed when she saw Cassidy standing in the aisle. The Reaper turned and slapped Kathy hard across the face with the gun. Cassidy’s anger boiled as her friend’s head lolled to one side and blood dribbled down the side of her mouth. The bastard had knocked her unconscious. “Join us.”

The Reaper’s cultured voice echoed throughout the auditorium.

A marked

contradiction to his violent actions. Cassidy said a small prayer and hoped that at least God hadn’t deserted her. “Let Kathy go.” She was glad her voice sounded stronger than she thought it would. “You want me, and I’m here.” He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Come around to the side, up onto the stage with us.” He reached over and caressed Kathy’s hair and ran a finger slowly down her neck then down over her breasts. “And if you try using any of your gifts on me or contacting anyone, I’ll shoot you both. Your powers can’t outrun a bullet, now can they?” No, she didn’t think her powers were reliable enough to stop him, let alone stop a bullet.

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Cassidy was glad Kathy’s unconscious state kept her from experiencing the Reaper’s touch first hand. She promised herself he would pay for it. Cassidy looked around frantically for something inspiring to do, but nothing presented itself. She vowed she would find something. Taking a deep breath she started up the small flight of stairs and then stepped out onto the wooden stage. Once again, the memories of the last time she’d been on this stage assaulted her. At least now she knew what her powers had been trying to tell her. The smells and sounds of the auditorium made her feel seventeen again. They rose up to assault her as she took those last echoing steps toward the man who wanted her dead. She remembered thinking she was going to die all those years ago, sitting here on this very stage with a full auditorium watching her. How ironic if she really did end up dying here tonight. Morbid, but ironic. A small smile curved her lips before she could stop it. “You have nothing to smile about,” snapped the Reaper. Wait, did he actually look more uncertain? Maybe his ego could be the key to his downfall after all. Interesting… Cassidy considered. She didn’t have any weapons, unless she could find one, but she had her wits and her mouth. If she could taunt him into making a mistake, she might have a chance. He leveled the gun at her. “Come over here to me…Mother.” “Mother?” Cassidy asked startled. “I’m not your mother. You killed her, remember?” His face lit up with the amusement only the truly mad possess. “Yes, I remember. But now I know you found a way for us to be together like we always should’ve been. You’ve come back to me in this body. That’s why Cassidy got away from me, to show me she was the one you would use.” He reached out and grabbed her button-down shirt. Cassidy pulled back from him and the shirt ripped down the middle. Buttons scattered and the little pinging noises they made as they hit the stage echoed across the auditorium. She gripped the remains of the shirt together in an attempt to cover the bra beneath. No way was he getting a free show if she could help it. She started to spin away but he pressed the gun against her breast and she froze. “What the hell do you want from me?” She hated that her voice shook. “I told you, Mother. For us to be together as we should have been all those years ago. Father is dead, so there’s no reason for you to be coy with me any longer.” Cassidy’s fear and anger rose like bile in the back of her throat. “I am not your mother!” she bit

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out. “And even if I was, I totally understand why she wouldn’t want an impotent weakling for a son!” He slapped her hard across the face sending her sprawling to the floor, dangerously close to the orchestra pit. Cassidy noticed fleetingly it contained varying sizes of kettle drums and music stands. She scrambled back away from the edge on hands and knees and then rolled onto her back, blood pounding in her ears. She didn’t relish a fall into the pit, but maybe she could help the Reaper “fall” instead. “We are under my rules now, Mother. I’ve waited such a long time for us to be together.” He stepped close, aiming the gun toward her middle. “Are you ready to hear my rules?” His voice sounded hopeful. Cassidy couldn’t think. She knew she had to do something. All through high school she’d gotten into trouble for what the teachers termed her “smart mouth”. Maybe it could get her out of trouble here. She opened her mouth and let the first thing that popped into her mind tumble out. “You don’t have enough balls to face anyone—man or woman—on equal ground.” She took a small step back, hoping to inch the Reaper as far away from Kathy as possible. “You only feel superior when you’re holding a gun or hurting someone weaker than you. You’re not even a real man.” At the stricken look on his face, she continued, pressing her advantage. “I’ll bet that’s the only way you can get it up, isn’t it?” His eyes raged and she knew she’d struck a nerve. “I’ll show you I can get it up, Mother.” His voice dangerously quiet. “Because I promised myself this time I would fuck you while you died.” “What?” she demanded, forgetting her fear for the moment. “You can’t be serious, I’m not…,” she trailed off as he stepped forward and pressed the gun to her temple. Yikes! Her mind whirled, then inspiration struck. “You probably won’t even be able to get it up to fuck me, anyway. By the way, Holly Peters was HIV positive and had genital herpes. It seems Ms. Peters left you with a nice parting gift. And I’m hoping your little shriveled dick falls off!” He ground the gun into her flesh, but fear swam in his eyes. She smirked as he reached down with his free hand to make sure his package was still in tact. “I’m more than enough man to handle you, Mother. I’m more man than my father ever was.” He traced the gun from her temple down her breast. She took another small step back. Time to attack where it really hurts. “I don’t know about that, you’re father was a great lover. He fucked me until I couldn’t think straight and then we fucked some more. Somehow I don’t think you could last long enough to get it out

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of your pants.” The Reaper’s face turned purple. Maybe I’ve been too good at taunting him and he’ll kill me now. She looked around frantically for something to use as a weapon. She started to lunge toward one of the music stands, but he turned the gun on Kathy and she stopped in her tracks. When he finally spoke, his voice was confident and he’d gotten himself under control. “You stay away from those, and step over here toward the edge or I’ll kill her first.” “Now, undress for me.” He stepped back enough so he could watch her every move, but kept the gun pointed steadily at her. Not seeing any alternative, she slowly stood and then reached up to remove the remains of her tattered shirt. As the soft cotton fell through her fingers to the floor, she suddenly wished she’d worn more clothes. He reached out with the hand not holding the gun and traced the swell above her breasts. “Don’t stop now, I want to see all of you.” She suppressed a shudder and stepped back away from him again, slowly squatting down to unlace her tennis shoes. If she was going to make a move, now would be the best time. She might die in the process, but at least she’d die trying. Taking a deep breath, she sprang out like a sprinter from a starting line and head-butted him in the gut. His breath whooshed out, but he kept a firm grip on the gun. He grabbed her around the waist and slammed her to the side, sending her sprawling into a sea of folding chairs and stands. Pain lanced through her head and right arm, and little black spots danced in front of her vision. A fist of nausea roiled in her stomach as it did anytime she’d been hurt badly. I wonder what I’ve broken. But then he was there, dragging her up by her hair and out to the front of the stage again. “I’m done playing with you, Mother. It’s time for me to prove to you that I should’ve been the only man in your life.” Cassidy opened her mouth to speak, but her fuzzy mind had gone blank. The Reaper pushed her onto her stomach and placed his knee in the middle of her back. He then pulled her arms back roughly behind her, and she felt handcuffs painfully capture her wrists. She heard each snick of the handcuffs closing echo around the auditorium. Each one dashed her hopes of escape just a little more. He pulled her up to a standing position and held her a minute while she willed her rubbery legs

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to hold her. Blinking, she almost blacked out until she realized he’d been busy ripping away her clothes and she now stood naked before him. Fear coursed through her. If she lost consciousness, they were as good as dead. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. She shook her head in at attempt to clear it and willed herself to search for alternatives. “I think I know why mother picked you to come back to me, Cassidy.” He ran a hand over his obvious erection. So, he knew she wasn’t his mother, but he had some psycho fantasy that his mother had come back through her. Terrific, just what she needed, a psycho with mommy issues. The Reaper continued. “You look like her when she was young. Back before my father sucked the life out of her.” Okay, deep breath. Keep him talking and you’ll think of something. “Yeah, well your mother and I are both attracted to strong men, not weaklings like you.” Her words slurred more than she would’ve liked. He stepped close to her face and she could see the madness and the rage doing battle inside his eyes. “Father was never supposed to be with her. She and I should have been together. He was just in the way.” “You’re her son, not her husband. You’re supposed to go and find your own woman, not develop some sick Oedipus complex.” The Reaper ignored her. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you scream my name before you die— again.” That’s incentive? The Reaper circled her, studying her from every angle. She swallowed back the fear that threatened to overwhelm her as his breath heated the back of her neck. A glance at Kathy confirmed she was still unconscious. Although even if she came to, Cassidy didn’t know what Kathy could do to help at this point. The Reaper looked at her with awe. He stepped forward and pinched one nipple reverently. “I’ve never seen her like this.” His open gaze traveled back up to meet her own. The Reaper traced a tentative path from her breasts to her curls and Cassidy winced away, inching backwards away from Kathy again. “I knew she’d have hair here. I’ve dated many women who were shaved smooth, but I always knew Mother would have these beautiful auburn curls.” His eyes were dark when they met hers. “Lie on you back.”

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Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and she blinked them back furiously. He may get me on my back, but if he wants to rape me, my knees will most likely be bent with my feet on the floor. That means leverage. And if I have leverage, maybe I can flip us both over into the Orchestra pit. I’ll just have to hope he’ll break my fall. Having no choice, she sat on the cold wooden floor as close the orchestra pit as she dared and then lay back on top of her hands. The handcuffs dug into her wrists and her back, but she doubted the Reaper worried about her comfort right now. Still holding the gun awkwardly, he began to undress. Cassidy thought about making a run for it, but just the act of standing up would take too long and get her and Kathy shot. Once totally nude, he knelt between her knees and stared at her body in wonder. Using the barrel of the gun, he gently traced it down her curls and along her folds. The cold metal sent shivers through her—a combination of chill and fear. Her reaction seemed to excite him and his motions became rougher, the gun site digging into her sensitive flesh. She winced and reminded herself survival was the only objective. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, distancing herself from his actions. Come on, you bastard, quit playing around and get up here like you’re going to fuck me. She braced her feet firmly against the floor and waited. ***** Zach snuck through the back stage entrance to the auditorium and tried to reach out to Cassidy. His frustration mounted when his power still lay dormant. Whatever drug the Reaper injected him with fully suppressed his powers. In other circumstances, he’d be curious what compound caused the effect. He sincerely hoped the Reaper used the same drug on Watson—at least then there would be no permanent damage. Zach vowed to make the Reaper pay for that as well. Inching to the wings, Zach peered out through the sea of chairs and music stands and saw Kathy sitting tied to a chair—unconscious and bleeding. In front of her, Cassidy lay on the stage naked. The Reaper knelt in front of her holding what looked to be Zach’s Glock 9mm! Be careful, he may have my backup piece as well since both were missing. A red haze of rage and fear swam in front of Zach’s eyes and he took a deep breath to clear it. He would be no good to Cassidy if he wasn’t thinking clearly. Agents do their jobs without psychic powers every day. I can do this… He’d let himself become too reliant on his powers. He hoped his poor hindsight didn’t get Cassidy and Kathy killed. More than that, he hoped his backup wouldn’t take too long. Under stringent protest, he’d convinced Anderson to

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stay with Watson—so he was on his own until the cavalry arrived. At least now I know what happened to my gun. Across the stage Kathy moaned, the sound echoing across the auditorium. “Maybe Kathy will wake up in time for the show. What do you think, Mother?” Mother? Did the Reaper actually think Cassidy was his mother? Zach crept out, skirting the chairs and staying low. He had to concentrate to ensure he was silent. Any sound, no matter how small would carry in this auditorium. Sweat dripped down his forehead as into his eyes. He ground his teeth together as he saw the Reaper position himself to enter Cassidy. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re going to do first,” Cassidy said to the Reaper. “That way I can help you enjoy the experience.” Zach noticed her brace her feet firmly against the stage as she adjusted her balance. What is she doing? “Don’t worry. What I’m going to do won’t need any explanation.” Revulsion washed through Zach. He reached the end of the concert set and knew he only had one chance to get to Cassidy while the Reaper was distracted. Taking a deep breath he launched himself at the Reaper. Just before Zach reached him, Cassidy saw him and gasped.

Alerted, the Reaper turned,

swinging the gun toward Zach. “No!” Cassidy kicked the Reaper hard in the groin, causing him to double over and the shot to go wide, hitting one of the overhead lights. The echo of the second gun shot and then the gun hitting the wooden stage ricocheted around them. Pain lanced through Zach’s side as the second bullet burrowed deep and he landed hard on his back. He grunted as the air whooshed out of his lungs. He inched toward Cassidy to try to protect her naked form, wincing as every movement sent fiery pain lancing down his side. Zach lunged for his gun, which lay just within reach of his questing fingertips. The Reaper grabbed Zach’s legs from behind and the gun skittered out of Zach’s hand and over the side of the orchestra pit. Zach kicked back hard and heard a muffled shriek as his foot connected with what he hoped was the Reaper’s head. The Reaper’s grip loosened, and Zach flipped over onto his back and tried to stand. Black spots swam in front of his vision, but he blinked them away and stood to search for the Reaper.

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The Reaper regained his feet and shaking his head to clear his disorientation, zeroed in on Zach. Zach shook his head to try and solidify the three wavy figures of the Reaper he saw before him. Picking up a music stand, Zach advanced on the Reaper. Suddenly, both the Reaper and Kathy emitted an ear piercing shriek. Zach glanced down at Cassidy and could tell she was trying to blast the Reaper, but he couldn’t feel any of it. He noticed the tears in Cassidy’s eyes and then felt himself being catapulted out toward the yawning depth of the orchestra pit. He shouldn’t have taken his attention away from the Reaper. The action around him slowed. Everything suddenly became starkly detailed and crystal clear. Cool air whooshed past his face as he fell, and fear coated his lungs as he twisted in midair, holding his hands in front of him to break his fall.

The tympani head ripped away against his

outstretched arms and a searing pain tore through his temple. He tried to move, to assess the damage, but felt the blackness of unconsciousness sucking him down like quicksand. What would happen to Cassidy if he blacked out? He couldn’t leave her at the mercy of the Reaper. His world became fuzzy and he knew he was losing the fight. “Forgive me, Cassidy,” he mumbled as the darkness took him. ***** The sickening thud of a skull hitting concrete reverberated around the auditorium and then slowly fell silent. Cassidy wriggled close to peer over the side, heedless of any reprisal from the Reaper. Icy claws of fear sliced their way through her guts and up the back of her throat to materialize in a scream. “Zach!” Pain lanced through her head as the Reaper yanked her away from the side by the back of her hair. “We’re not finished!” A deadly calm settled over Cassidy.

The last of her fear slid away to be replaced by

determination, with a slow simmer of anger. I refuse to let him hurt anyone else. This had to stop—and I’m the only one here to make it happen. “You’re right. We’re not.” Her power gathered of its own accord—psychic energy filling her like charge into a battery. Her skin prickled, every hair standing on end, and small zaps of energy arcing between her fingers and the metal of the handcuffs. Reaching out mentally, her tendril of psychic energy honed in on the door to the Reaper’s power. Fear flickered through his eyes and he scurried back away from her, tripping over a music stand and falling onto his back. She stood, her hands still cuffed behind her back and let her power surge toward him.

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The white-hot pain flashed briefly inside her mind, but the strength of her power batted his aside like a gnat. He cringed away from her and curled his arms over his head protectively. “No, please don’t. Don’t hurt me.” Cassidy ignored him. “Killing you is too lenient.” Finding the door to his power, she began to push it mentally closed. It resisted, but she let the force of her power flow against the back of the door. “You’ll never hurt anyone else again.” High, keening shrieks of pain filled the air, echoing around her as the Reaper fought like an animal clinging to its life. Since she inhabited his mind, she saw the pain coursing through him like thick honey. Nothing like he’d caused her and Tia and Dix and the others, but still potent. Her power continued to flow outward in a forceful white-hot bolt. The door grudgingly inched forward. Peripherally, she heard Anderson and the other agents burst through all the entrances to the auditorium. But she refused to pause. This had to be finished, and damn the consequences, she would finish it. The door to the Reaper’s power slammed ominously closed and she concentrated her power against it to meld the edges with the brain tissue around it. This portal would never be opened again. The Reaper’s shrieks cut off in mid-breath and he crumbled to the stage in a heap. Cassidy relaxed, her power retreating back within herself. Strong arms caught her as her legs buckled beneath her. Her arms tingled painfully as the cuffs were unlocked and blood rushed back into her wrists and hands. She was gently lowered to the stage and a man’s suit jacket laid over her to cover her nakedness. “Zach,” she said through a throat gone scratchy and dry. Anderson’s worried face swam in front of her. “He’s alive.” Relief flowed through Cassidy and she tried to reach out her mind to Zach but met with…nothing. Anderson’s hand closed around hers and she gripped it tightly. “He’s hurt badly. Besides the gunshot wound, severe trauma to his head. They’ve called the ambulance.” Cassidy nodded. “Kathy?” “She’s okay, but still disoriented.” Anderson knelt next to the Reaper and touched his first two fingers to the Reaper’s neck. “He’s alive.” He turned his attention to the agents around him. “Get a second ambulance and make sure he’s secure. I don’t want him anywhere near Agent Hatcher or the two women.” Cassidy’s throat hurt too much to speak again. She squeezed his hand. “I know. But he’s a tough bastard. He’s come out of worse that this.” Anderson leaned over her

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to whisper into her ear. “What did you do to him?” He indicated the Reaper with a nod of his head. Cassidy swallowed several times before her voice worked. “I pulled the door to his powers shut. I can’t explain how I know, but that’s one door that won’t be opening anytime soon.” Her head pounded from the aftereffects of using her powers and a deep cold seeped into her bare skin from the wooden floor. She huddled closer under Anderson’s suit jacket, seeking warmth. The EMT’s shooed Anderson away from her. She kept her head turned to try and catch a glimpse of Zach. As they paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher, she caught sight of him. A painful gasp spilled from her raw throat. Strapped to a stretcher, his face was deathly pale except for a dark splash of blood covering the entire right side. A bandage had been applied to his temple, and bruises had begun to purple his forehead and eyes. “Zach…,” she whispered. She closed her eyes and let a tendril of her power reach out toward him. Still exhausted from her struggle with the Reaper, only a weak wisp touched Zach’s mind. She held on, hoping to find some spark, some sign he could feel her. Still nothing. “Damn it, Zach. Help me. Show me you’re still in there.” Cassidy’s hot tears flowed against her silent answer.

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Cassidy stared down into her half empty cup of stale hospital coffee. She’d been checked over and released an hour ago, but still no word on Zach. And she still couldn’t touch his mind. To make matters worse, they wouldn’t let her see Kathy either. “I’d offer you some more coffee, but you’d think I was being cruel.” Cassidy looked up to see Anderson standing over her with a duffel bag clutched in his hand. Cassidy noticed lines of strain around his mouth. Under his eyes, dark circles marred his normally pale complexion. “It’s pretty bad.” She raised her cup in a mock salute. He sat down next to her and placed the duffel bag on the floor between them. “So, are you tired of wearing a hospital gown?” Cassidy cringed. The FBI had taken her clothes into evidence, so she’d worn Anderson’s suit jacket, which was now thrown over a trendy hospital gown. “Definitely. I think you just want your suit jacket back.” Cassidy smiled as she pulled open the duffel bag and saw a change of clothes, some toiletries and her purse. “I wondered where you’d gone.” She pulled Anderson into a hug. “Thank you so much.” Anderson awkwardly patted her on the back. He cleared his throat in embarrassment. “He’s going to be okay. And so is Kathy.” He tipped Cassidy’s chin up so he could pierce her with a steely gaze. “But you have to believe and have some hope.” Numbly, Cassidy nodded. “It just doesn’t feel like it’s over with the Reaper. I mean, I know I shut his powers down for good, but I keep looking over my shoulder. Ya know?” He nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. But it is over. And now we have to be strong for Zach and Kathy.” “Agent Anderson?” Cassidy looked up to see a petite redhead in a doctor’s white lab coat, a solemn expression on her otherwise friendly face. Both Cassidy and Anderson quickly stood. Cassidy stepped forward, clasping Anderson’s hand like a lifeline. His sweaty palm proved he was more scared than he let on. “I’m Dr. King. We’ve patched him up, but he took a severe blow to the head. And we found a hefty dose of Ecstasy in his system. The EMT’s advised he’d been drugged earlier in the evening. I’d say it’s a safe bet, that’s what was used.”

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Cassidy and Anderson exchanged a meaningful glance. No wonder I couldn’t feel him. Dr. King looked at both of them in turn, sizing them up. She nodded as if deciding they could take the rest of the news so she plowed on. “He’s in a coma.” Cassidy gasped. “How long….” “We don’t know.” Dr. King ran her hands through already tousled red hair. The gesture reminded Cassidy briefly of Dix. “Comas can last a few hours, a few months or for the lifetime of the patient.” “So what do we do now?” Cassidy asked quietly. Dr. King sighed. Her eyes sad and resigned. She’d probably given this same message to thousands of families and loved ones before them. “We wait.” “I need to see him,” Cassidy blurted out. “I can’t even feel him anymore.” Dr. King’s eyes narrowed at the wording, and she looked at Cassidy suspiciously. “Are you family?” Anderson placed his hands on Cassidy’s shoulders and broke in smoothly before she could answer. “Cassidy is Zach’s fiancé.” She tensed under his hands at the blatant lie. Dr. King nodded once. “Cassidy…. Are you also here for Miss Martin? She’s been asking for a Cassidy.” She nodded, relief sweeping through her in a flood. “Yes. Is she okay?” “She has a minor concussion and some bruises, but other than that she’s no worse for the wear physically. She may need some counseling though. For now, we’ve given her something to help her sleep. We’d like to keep her overnight for observation, just to be safe.” “Cassidy,” said Anderson. “Why don’t you go freshen up and change into some real clothes and then we can go see Kathy and Zach together.” Cassidy squeezed his hand, grabbed the duffel bag and headed off toward the restroom. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she dumped everything out of the duffel bag onto the counter. Her purse fell out last landing on top of a pair of blue jeans. She picked it up and immediately felt the familiar psychic signature from within. Unzipping the top, she found just what she thought she would—the ring Zach’s grandmother had given him. The same one he hadn’t given to his fiancé. She pulled it out reverently and slipped it on her left ring finger. It’s warmth radiated against her skin and a sense of comfort and safety surrounded her. If I’m posing as Zach’s fiancé, I may as well

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wear it. She shrugged and reached for her clothes. Slipping on her own familiar clothes seemed like a sinful luxury after spending the last few hours naked and then in a scratchy hospital gown. After she fully dressed, she turned toward the mirror and gasped. Her auburn hair tumbled around her face. Her eyes wide with shock, her pupils so big, the black ate away most of the hazel, which only served to highlight the paleness of her face. Dark smudges under her eyes attested to the strain of the past few hours…along with the entire Reaper ordeal. I’m surprised I didn’t get more strange looks sitting in the waiting room sporting a hospital gown and suit jacket, looking like the poster child for post traumatic stress syndrome. Sighing, she settled for brushing out her hair and pulled it into a ponytail. She wouldn’t bother with makeup—even her normal eye shadow, eyeliner and blush seemed like too much of an indulgence with Zach lying in a hospital bed in a coma. “If only I could touch his mind,” she told her reflection. “Make sure he’s all right.” The ring suddenly burned hot against her finger and gave out waves of psychic vibrations. Does this signal a vision? A small wave of familiar comfort reached her, and she immediately recognized the source. “Zach?” she whispered. Closing her eyes, a tendril of her power reached out to Zach. At first, she found nothing—the same nothing she’d found since she woke in bed alone. But then, almost fleetingly, a small spark of consciousness feathered against her tendril of power. She grasped it like a lifeline and anchored the connection firmly inside her mind. “Zach? Can you hear me?” Silence greeted her. But she held tight to the connection. He was still in there and on some level aware. Which meant he could fight—fight to live and fight to come back to her. She looked down at the ring. “Thank you, Grammy.” Grabbing the duffel bag, she ran to find Anderson. ***** Zach floated on a cloud, bobbing softly in the serene blue sky. Not a bad feeling, but he knew he shouldn’t be relaxing right now. He needed to remember something important. It nibbled and nagged at the side of his mind, but refused to step into the light where he could examine it. He could almost sense it out of his peripheral vision, when he turned his head, it vanished. He tried to focus his thoughts, tried to remember, but throbbing pain erupted inside his right

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temple. He screwed his eyes shut and continued to fight through the pain to remember anything about how he got to this point. But in the end, the pain won, and he relaxed back against the cloud, exhausted and remembering nothing. Slowly, the pain receded, and he floated comfortably once more. He gingerly opened his eyes to see wispy curls of white against the cerulean blue sky. A momentary thought reminded him he couldn’t be hovering in the sky, but the beauty and serenity of this place lulled the thought away. If he reached out to touch the white tendrils, he knew they would be as soft as brushed silk against his palm. But not quite as soft as Cassidy’s skin. “Cassidy?” He jolted. Memories trickled back to him in jumbled pieces. Cassidy’s beautiful face swam in front of him. Her auburn hair a silky waterfall framing her face—a face dotted with a lovely smattering of freckles over her nose and a saucy dimple next to her full, inviting mouth. Hazel eyes glinted down at him with amusement and love. Another memory intruded. He saw her naked, lying on a stage at the mercy of the Reaper. His smile turned to a scowl as he remembered himself falling, and then nothing. Fear gripped him in its icy grasp, and he began to struggle to escape the serenity he floated in. ***** Cassidy stood up to stretch. A week of sitting in the hospital chair beside Zach’s bed had knotted her muscles into painful ropes. Long ago, the nurses and doctors gave up trying to make her leave his side. Anderson and Kathy came and went several times each day, but Cassidy refused to leave. She held tightly to the sliver of Zach’s consciousness she’d linked with, no matter how much exhaustion tried to drag her under its dark grip. There had been no further incident with the ring, and the hospital staff seemed to take it as her pass to stay in the room. She rubbed at her aching shoulders and glanced over in time to see the door swing open. Kathy peeked inside and then stepped into the room. Cassidy felt a genuine smile tug at her lips. Kathy’s bruises were fading, and color rode high in her beautiful cheeks once more. Her piercing green eyes still seemed haunted, but the waves of sadness flowing off her had diminished over the last week. “Hi.” Kathy crossed to Zach’s bedside and looked down at his still form. She glanced over her shoulder at Cassidy. “Any change?” Cassidy shook her head. “None yet.” Her voice sounded weary. The steady beep of Zach’s

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heart monitor and the buzz of the IV pump sounded too loud in her ears, but she was unwilling to break the silence. She automatically checked her connection to Zach. It still sat in the corner of her mind just as she left it—a small spark of life force she’d pinned all her hopes on. “You look like hell. But I thought you could use some food. I’ve brought burgers, fries and apple pies.” Cassidy’s stomach grumbled loudly as the smell of the French fries permeated the room. “You’re a saint!” Cassidy grabbed the bag Kathy offered and sat down to begin devouring. Kathy nibbled delicately on a French fry. “How much sleep have you gotten?” Cassidy swallowed a large bite of double cheeseburger and shrugged. “Not much. But I can’t give up on him and I’m not sure I can maintain the link if I fall asleep. Besides, it won’t be the first time I’ve been up for a few days straight.” She pulled the paper off a straw and stuck it through the hole in the top of the soda lid. “Yeah, but it’s definitely been a while. Something’s gotta give and soon. The nurses are starting to talk about slipping you some drugs. If you don’t get some sleep you’re going to endanger your health.” Cassidy squeezed Kathy’s hand. “I appreciate the concern. I need a break, but I can’t afford to take one until Zach’s awake. But…maybe with your help, I can reach him.” Kathy stopped eating mid-motion and stared at her. Cassidy continued undaunted. “I know, you don’t think there is anything to be done but wait. But we have to try to reach him. The small spark of life I’m holding inside my mind means part of Zach is still alive. I think he doesn’t know exactly where he is and how he’s going to get out.” Kathy frowned. “You two really have a deep connection if you’re picking up signals from him while he’s in a coma.” She sipped thoughtfully at her soda and glanced over at Zach’s still form. “What did you have in mind? I’ll do anything I can to help, but if this is about your psychic powers, I don’t see how I can help.” Cassidy put down her cup and grabbed Kathy’s hand, excitement flowing through her. “This ring is the key to reaching Zach.” She held up her left hand. “It’s chock full of psychic energy which Zach is familiar with. If he held it in his hand, he’d recognize his grandmother’s psychic signature—it’s very strong.” Kathy broke in. “So, if you connect it somehow with Zach, then between your signature and his grandmother’s, it might be strong enough for him to follow. Right?” “Exactly.”

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“But if he’s in a coma, doesn’t that by definition mean he’s

unreachable?” “True, but the conscious mind is a very malleable thing. I’ve been talking to some of the nurses and doctors about comas. Even right now while Zach lies there, he can hear everything we’re saying and everything that goes on around him. His mind registers everything and catalogues it.” She took a sip of her soda before continuing. “My theory is that most people don’t have the mind-strength to access the pathways where those sensory images are held, so they can’t recall any of those memories during their waking moments.” Cassidy looked down at the ring sparkling against her finger. “And if we can reach Zach’s subconscious, we may be able to help him struggle to wake up.” Kathy nodded and slapped both of her palms down on her thighs. “Okay then, I’m in. But I’m not sure how can I help.” “Just hold my hand and Zach’s—sort of like a psychic circle in case I need help breaking back out. A thought struck Cassidy and she involuntarily stepped back away from Kathy. “What is it?” “We can’t do this. There could be some danger to you. Zach usually does the circle with me and he always monitored the strength of the power flow between us.

Since you have some psychic

sensitivity, I run the risk of forcing open your powers if things get out of control. I won’t risk your powers being blown open because of my inexperience. It’s too dangerous. I won’t trade you for Zach. I’ll find another way.” “Now wait just a second.” Kathy stood and walked over to Cassidy until she was toe to toe with her, her green eyes flashing. “I think I have a right to choose, since the danger is to me. I know you mean well, but this is my decision and mine alone.” Tears burned in the back of Cassidy’s throat and she swallowed them away. How could she even risk losing Kathy after everything that happened? Fear rose up along with the memory of how Kathy looked slumped over in a chair, unconscious and in the Reaper’s power. “Kathy, you don’t know what you’re asking. Forcing open someone’s powers is how the Reaper killed those women…and Dix.” Her voice broke and the sentence ended on a watery whisper. Kathy’s eyes softened. “I know all of that. But I also know, you’re the only family I have and I would do anything for you.” “But I would never ask you to risk yourself like this.” Kathy reached out to touch Cassidy’s arm. “I know you wouldn’t, which is why I can freely

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offer it without reservations. You would throw yourself in front of a bus for me without a second thought. Don’t you think I’d do the same for you?” The look in Kathy’s eyes stopped Cassidy’s next outburst. “I know how much you love Zach. If you could’ve done anything to help Dix, I know you would’ve, and so would Zach. I’m in. And that’s final.” Defeat settled firmly on Cassidy’s shoulders. What if I try and lost both Zach and Kathy? “I don’t have to be psychic to know what that stricken look means. Don’t worry, we can do anything as long as we stick together.” “Are you sure you’re only sensitive?”

Cassidy met Kathy’s smile with one of her own.

“Because you’re pretty damn good at reading me.” “That’s called being your best friend.” ***** Cassidy stood holding Zach’s still hand in hers, with the ring cupped in her palm between them. She held Kathy’s hand across the bed and Kathy rounded out the circle holding Zach’s hand. “All right, I’m not quite sure what to do.” Kathy glanced over at her. Cassidy took a deep breath. “Since this is a little outside anything I’ve ever tried, I can’t give you facts. I’m going to concentrate on the ring, open my powers and go searching for Zach. Beyond that…we wing it.” “Wing it? Is that a technical term?” Cassidy laughed and sent her a saucy wink. “Not exactly, but most great discoveries were made in this very non-scientific manner.” “Okay, sounds like the best plan we have.” Cassidy looked down at Zach’s still form and then over at her friend. “If you feel any pain or I tell you to break the circle—break it. No arguments.” “I’ll be fine. Concentrate on Zach.” Cassidy looked down at Zach, his dark hair falling over his forehead. His handsome face still bruised but serene. She squeezed his hand and the ring gently bit into her flesh. “I know you can hear me, Zach. Help me bring you back to us.” Closing her eyes, she opened her power and let it flow through the ring held between their joined hands and into Zach. The warmth of the ring began to steadily increase until it vibrated waves of heat against her palm. The hospital room slowly faded away to be replaced by a forest. The crisp scent of pine rose up

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to greet her, her cheeks stung from the cold which rose from the blanket of snow lightly coating the ground. Sounds of scurrying animals, birds and the crunch of pine needles surrounded her. Cassidy turned in a full circle and realized she was standing in the center of a small clearing. She sensed Kathy close by, but could’nt see her. Just then, a small dark-haired boy ran into the clearing giggling. An older woman followed him. Cassidy recognized her as Zach’s grandmother. “Look, Grammy, lots more pinecones!” The little boy stopped short as he saw Cassidy. His brows knitted together and a look of confusion marred his perfect features. “Cassidy?” His voice suddenly sounding like the man she knew. “Zach.” Relief rolled over her in waves. This was no memory vision if he spoke to her and knew her name! Her brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle it out. It also couldn’t be the future, because Zach was a child and his grandmother was alive. “Well now, let me have a look at her.” Zach’s grandmother stepped past Zach to look Cassidy up and down critically. “You’re Zach’s grandmother.” Cassidy tried not to fidget under the inscrutable gaze. “That I am, young lady.” She took both of Cassidy’s hands in hers. A brilliant smile bloomed across the older woman’s face making her serenely beautiful. “You’re the true love,” she said matter-of-factly as she held up Cassidy’s left hand. Cassidy gasped as she saw the diamond and sapphire ring glinting against the sunlight on her ring finger and realized Zach didn’t know she wore it. Would he mind? “But….” “No buts now, dear. My grandson loves you or it wouldn’t be on your finger.” “Grammy?” the boy asked. “What’s happening?” The woman let go of Cassidy’s hands and knelt down to fold the boy into her protective embrace. “It’s okay, Zachary.” She brushed a lock of thick black hair away from his face in a gesture Cassidy remembered doing so many times. Cassidy eyes burned with tears at the memory of Zach alive and well and in her arms. The woman took Zach’s small chin in her bony fingers. “You’re not supposed to be here, my love. You’re fighting to stay because of guilt over Dix and so many other reasons. But it’s not your time yet.” Cassidy started. This woman knew Dix? How could that be? What kind of vision was she in? “But, Grammy, you don’t even know Dix.” His voice sounded petulant.

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His grandmother smiled at him and then laughed. “So stubborn.” She tapped his temple with her index finger. “With all of the gifts you’ve got locked up here, you should have more of an open mind. Dix is here with me, but you shouldn’t be. Not yet.” Cassidy’s heart broke a little as she noticed tears welling up in the liquid golden eyes she knew and loved. “Am I…dead?” he asked in a small voice. Laughter flowed across Cassidy’s skin as the older woman threw back her head and laughed again. “No, you’re not. You’ve things yet to do.” Cassidy tried not to smile as a familiar look of stubbornness formed on Zach’s face. “But I want to stay here with you. And I want to see Dix.” “All in good time, love.” The woman stood, holding Zach’s small hand in her own and pierced Cassidy with a look. “You don’t belong here either. I feel your power, but you’re playing with dangerous things.” “I came for Zach,” Cassidy said, not sure how she was supposed to respond. The woman looked her up and down again, and then as if she’d decided something, nodded once. “It’s still up to him if he goes or stays.” She held up a hand to forestall Cassidy’s objection. “Let me finish. It’s up to him, but believe me when I say, I’m on your side.” Cassidy breathed a small sigh of relief at the woman’s words. “I’ve missed him. Even though time in this place is fluid, I’ve felt his absence most keenly. But I want him to enjoy a full life before he joins me, so I’ll do what I can.” Cassidy read compassion and understanding in her level gaze. She turned away from the woman and knelt down to be at eye level with Zach. “Will you link your mind with mine, so I’m not so worried about you while you decide?” “I’ll try….” Pain seared through Cassidy’s head as a spark of Zach’s power flared against her. She staggered under it, until she realized it wasn’t her pain. The forest flowed away from her to be replaced by the cold, sterile hospital room. A nurse stood just inside the door and gaped at them. Cassidy opened her mouth to explain when Kathy dropped to the floor like a rag doll.

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Cassidy reached Kathy first and gently lifted her head to place a rolled up blanket under her. “Kathy?” she said through a sheen of tears. The nurse pushed her aside to examine Kathy. “She’s unconscious. Hit the call button on the bed.” “Wait,” Cassidy ordered. She reached out with her power to assess Kathy’s condition. “We can’t wait,” protested the nurse. Cassidy ignored her. The combination of my power and Zach’s shoved open the door in her mind. It just overwhelmed her. She breathed an audible sigh of relief and turned to look at the nurse. “She’ll have a headache, but she’ll be fine.” Cassidy wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. The nurse, obviously upset, stepped around Cassidy and hit the call button herself, then huffed out of the room muttering something about finding an orderly. Cassidy took Kathy’s hand in her own. She closed her eyes and let her power spin out toward Kathy once more. Like a homing beacon, her gift found the door inside Kathy’s mind. It stood half open, and there were fresh rips of tissue where the door had been forced open. A smile creased her lips. “My guess would be you’re going to start experiencing all the psychic things I did right after the Reaper attacked me the first time.” Cassidy felt both sympathy and joy for her friend. At least Kathy’s powers weren’t opened by a maniac trying to kill her. But guilt stabbed at Cassidy as she reminded herself the end result could have been Kathy’s death, no matter the intent. “But hopefully you won’t be as shocked as I was, since you saw me go through it first.” The nurse burst through the door with Dr. King and two orderlies hot on her heels. “She refused to hit the call button for help when Miss Martin fainted. And she cracked her head pretty good on the floor, she could have caused a relapse of her concussion.” She waved her finger at Cassidy accusingly. Dr. King sighed as if she was used to dealing with the excitable nurse. “I hardly think it’s a criminal offense, Meg.” Dr. King knelt down to check on Kathy. “Cass, how bad is she hurt?” said a raspy voice from behind her. Cassidy’s heart lodged in her throat. She glanced toward the bed and Zach stared back at her. “Zach!” The hospital room erupted into chaos. Cassidy jumped up and headed toward Zach. The nurse and the orderlies were torn between seeing to Kathy and checking on Zach. “Hold it!” Dr. King’s voice cut through the din and halted everyone in their tracks. “Meg,” she addressed the nurse. “Get Miss Martin down to x-ray. I’ll check on Mr. Hatcher. Orderlies, help Meg

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and then you can go.” Meg looked like she would object, but finally nodded and set about following the doctor’s orders. “How bad is she hurt?” asked Zach again stubbornly. Cassidy grabbed his hand. “Her powers were forced open, but she’ll be okay,” she said softly so only he could hear. Dr. King answered the question. “She’s probably fine. Meg can be a little excitable and overprotective at times.” Zach nodded. “How long have I been out?” “Longer than I would’ve liked,” answered the doctor cryptically as she checked his pupils. “How do you feel?” “Like I fell off a building.” “Can you move everything? Toes? Fingers?” “Yes, but my head hurts like hell.” Dr. King’s pixie face lit up in a bright smile. “Good. That means you’re healing. Welcome back to the world, Mr. Hatcher.” Zach scowled. “I hate cocky doctors.” “Too bad. I love obstinate patients.” She turned to Cassidy. “From what I can tell, Mr. Congeniality, here will be fine, but I’m going to schedule a few more tests to make sure.” She chuckled at Zach’s muffled curse behind her. “He needs to take it easy—he’s still got a concussion and the bullet wound is in the initial healing stage.” She nodded toward the door where the nurse disappeared with Kathy. “Miss Martin will be fine as well. Looks like she just hit her head when she fainted, but I’d like to make sure. I’ll let you know what I find.” She turned on her heel and headed toward the door. “I suggest you all get some rest,” she said over her shoulder. ***** Zach squeezed Cassidy’s hand and for the first time noticed the IV attached to his arms and the beeping instruments all around him. He looked up into Cassidy’s face and caught his breath at her beauty and at the love swimming in her eyes for him. He looked beyond her as Anderson stepped into the room and stood quietly by the door. He returned his attention to Cassidy. “It’s good to be back. Thanks for coming in after me…,” he trailed off as he felt something on Cassidy’s hand. She didn’t normally wear much jewelry, so pure

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curiosity had him turning her hand over. His guts turned to ice as the diamond and sapphires glinted up at him. “Grammy’s ring….” He looked up at Cassidy. “Why are you wearing this?” he demanded gripping her hand tightly. Anderson stepped forward. “Cassidy, will you give us a minute?” Cassidy started as if struck and then glanced over at Anderson. At his nod, her eyes filled with tears. She pulled the ring off of her finger, placed it in Zach’s hand and slipped silently from the room. Tension built inside Zach as the familiar psychic energy flowing from the ring zinged through him. The last time he saw this ring, he’d given it to Cassidy to practice her powers. How had it gone from that to her wearing it? And why did the sight of it adorning her hand make him feel both relieved and guilty? “Anderson, what’s going on?” Anderson crossed his arms and stared down at him. “Other than you being the biggest asshole I’ve ever met, we’ve been quite busy while you’ve been on siesta. Forgive me for taking the job Dix usually does, but someone has to kick your ass. You and I both know Diane wasn’t your soul mate. And now you have a chance to give it freely to the woman who is.” He gestured toward the door Cassidy disappeared through. “So what’s the problem?” Zach thought many times of his Grandmother’s ring since he met her. Lately, he’d entertained thoughts of what it would look like on Cassidy’s finger, winking in the stage lights while she played— her cello cradled against her like a lover. He shook his head and cursed as pain assaulted him. Familiar guilt washed over him—guilt that he’d never loved Diane enough to give her the ring while she was alive. He pushed it away and turned it to anger. Anger he could deal with. “You’re out of line, Anderson.” Zach tried to sit up and, when pain lanced through his head and he side, he subsided back against the pillow. “How can Cassidy have the gall to even wear the ring if she knows what it means to me? I didn’t even have a chance to ask her to wear it.” “I made that necessary. I told the hospital staff she was your fiancée so they’d let her stay by your side. Besides, you’d already be engaged if you’d quit rationalizing and admit you belong together. She spent the last week sitting by your side. So I’d cut her a little slack. I don’t think you appreciate what she and Kathy risked for you.” Zach started to object, but Anderson plowed over him. “You scared all of us half to death, and she would’ve done anything—anything—to get you back. If you don’t like my methods, then that’s just too damn bad.”

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Foggy pieces of the last week came together inside Zach’s mind. He remembered feeling Cassidy close by. There were also brief wisps of a dream with his Grandmother and Cassidy. He sighed as his anger drained away as quickly as it came. Fatigue sucked at him. “I’m sorry. It’s just a shock to wake up and see the ring on her finger.” His heavy eyelids closed despite his efforts to keep them open. “Find her for me, will you?” ***** Zach woke to sunlight streaming across his bed. He moved his head gingerly, and when only a small amount of pain sliced through him, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He winced against the pain in his side, and propped pillows behind his back to lean on. He glanced down at the date function on his watch and tried to work out how long he’d been asleep. Anderson told him Cassidy held onto him for a week to bring him back, so by his calculations he’d slept another two days. It seemed to have made a world of difference. He reached out tentatively with his powers and relief flooded through him as he sensed several people close by. The feeling of impotence from the night his powers were lost to him still burned through him and he fought back a shudder. The door opened and he smiled as Cassidy peeked around the corner. “Hi there, sleeping beauty.” She crossed the room to him. Zach’s heart ached at the sight of her. What would he have done if the Reaper had killed her? Panic flooded him at the thought and his heart constricted. The same way he felt after Diane’s death. I don’t know if I can handle losing Cassidy too. Especially since Dix’s loss would leave a hole in his soul he didn’t think would ever fill. He swallowed hard against the emotions threatening to overwhelm him. “I guess I crashed on everyone.” Mischief danced in Cassidy’s eyes. “Leave it to you to make a dramatic entrance and then take a nap. How are you feeling?” Zach took stock of himself before answering. “Hungry.” “That’s a good sign. I’ll call the nurse and get her to bring you a tray.” Cassidy reached for the call button and Zach grabbed her hand. “Cassidy, I need to talk to you first.” A lead ball of panic settled in his stomach. He loved this woman—loved her as he’d never loved another soul. But I don’t think I could survive it if I lost her too… “What is it?” Concern etched inside her hazel eyes. Zach took his hand back from her and ran it through his hair. “I really appreciate you coming in

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after me. It was a brave thing you did.” Courageous, strong, noble—all the things he felt he’d never be again. “You would’ve done the same for me, Zach. I couldn’t lose you. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.” Her concern and love flowed around him making it hard to breathe. If he wasn’t still weak, he knew he would’ve bolted from the room. He had to keep her safe, even if that meant pushing her away. “That’s exactly what I mean.” He firmed his shields to keep the distance between them. If he felt her emotions right now, he’d lose all his nerve and he knew he’d never get it back. “I have an extremely dangerous job, Cassidy. And I won’t put you through losing me.” Unshed tears sparkled in Cassidy’s eyes and guilt stabbed at him. “What are you trying to tell me, Zach?” Her chin tilted at the stubborn angle he knew and loved. Her shields slammed into place and the instant emotional distance between them left him feeling bereft. This is what you want, remember. Do it quick. “I think we should go our separate ways. I can’t put you through this.” Temper sparked in her eyes and even through two closed shields he felt her anger sizzle and spark. “You can save the martyr speech and be honest with me. You aren’t afraid of putting me through losing you. You’re afraid if you someday lost me, you wouldn’t be able to handle it.” “Cassidy….” She crossed her arms over her chest. “No. Hear me out. You’re being a selfish bastard and I won’t let you do this without a fight.” Cassidy paced away to the door and back again as if getting herself under control. “You and I have something most people will never find. We truly are each other’s soul mates. You can’t tell me you don’t feel the same way, because I’ve been inside your head!” Zach rubbed his hands over his face and felt a week’s worth of beard against his fingers. “You’re absolutely right. And that’s exactly why I can’t risk losing you.” He said the words, even as desperation to pull her close swept through him. But then his traitorous heart reminded him of the pain he swore he’d never experience again. Cassidy pierced him with a steely gaze. “We already have a bond. No matter where we go, that will never change. There’s more than one way to lose someone. As for me, I’d rather take my chances and squeeze every drop of happiness out of life I can.” Zach’s heart felt like it would burst inside his chest and he had to struggle to draw in each breath. He remembered the pain of losing Dix and Diane and tried once more to imagine adding the pain of losing Cassidy. His mind balked. It couldn’t fathom it. Tears pricked the back of his eyes and he met

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Cassidy’s furious gaze. “I’m sorry, Cassidy. I can’t do this.” Thick prison doors closed around his heart, shutting her out. “I don’t believe you.” Cassidy gripped the side rail on the hospital bed until her knuckles were white. Zach dropped his shields and opened his mind to her. “Look inside my mind and see for yourself. I can’t go through that Cassidy. If I let you go now and consciously cut our contact, I’ll always know you’re out there somewhere, alive and healthy and happy. But if I keep you with me, I’ll forever be dragging you into dangerous situations. And now with your powers, into dangerous minds.” He thought again about just how dangerous the mind of the Reaper had been to them all. Cassidy’s mind merged with his. He opened himself and let her see his conviction, and along with it, his cowardice. He allowed her to see everything, his shortcomings, his fear, his love for her— and the fact he wasn’t brave enough to reach out and take the path she offered. But he did try to revel in those last few minutes of contact and felt truly bereft when she broke their connection. Hurt and resignation shone in her eyes. “Cassidy, I’m so sorry I can’t be brave enough to be there for you. If you truly love me…let me go.” Tense silence hung in the air between them for several moments. Then Cassidy nodded once and turned and walked away.

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

One year later Cassidy sighed and leaned back against the wide comfortable plane seat. “Jerry, I don’t know how you finagled us first class, this flight was sold out.” “Anything for my favorite cellist, honey. I just flirted with the woman at the ticketing desk. Straight women are so terribly easy to impress.” “That’s because straight men never treat us like you do,” Cassidy countered. She accepted a glass of champagne from the stewardess and studied Jerry. He was a tall, muscular man with blonde perfectly-cut hair and cornflower blue eyes which always twinkled with amusement. When she’d decided to quit the symphony and tour with her own music, he’d been the hottest agent around. Now, a year later, he was even hotter, thanks to her extremely successful tour, which showed no signs of slowing. “When you look at me like that sweetums, it makes me wish I was straight.” Jerry batted his eyelashes playfully at her. Cassidy laughed. “But you’re happily involved with Bob. How can I compete with that?” “Too true, too true. And he’ll get to take care of you backstage this time. He does terrific hair and wardrobe.” Jerry plucked at an escaping strand of Cassidy’s hair. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought we could let him help you out before the show—he’s meeting us at the theatre.” “That would be great. I’ve been looking forward to meeting him. I feel like I know him almost as well as you do from as much as you talk about him.” Cassidy rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. In reality she envied the close relationship Bob and Jerry had. It reminded her of something she knew she could’ve had with Zach. Taking a deep breath, she pushed thoughts of Zach from her mind. “Besides, I’m not much good with hair and wardrobe anyway, I’ll take all the help I can get.” “If jeans and a pony-tail were wardrobe, honey, you’d be all the rage.” Jerry gestured to her current attire of comfortable jeans, a t-shirt and the ever-present pony-tail. Cassidy smiled. “What can I say? I like to travel in comfort. Besides, I threw this blazer on over my T-shirt, didn’t I?” “After me pestering you for six months!” Jerry snorted and clinked his glass against hers. “To another sold out performance—and in Washington D.C. no less. And, have I mentioned the President

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and First Lady have reserved tickets for opening night.” “I think you’ve mentioned it.” Cassidy drank and then sighed. Jerry repeated the news about the President and First Lady at least a dozen times since he’d fount out. Washington D.C. meant she’d be in the same city with Zach for the first time in a year. She’d heard through Anderson and Kathy that he was doing well. He took over Dix’s job and had become something of a workaholic. But neither had mentioned Zach being very happy. Kathy insisted he buried himself in work to hide from his feelings for her, but Cassidy knew Zach’s determination and knew he could be overly dedicated even without her influence. Her heart ached with sensory memories of their brief time together. For the millionth time, her mind longed to reach out and touch his, but she held it back firmly. If there was one thing she’d learned over the past year, it was control over her powers. She saw the conviction in Zach’s mind first-hand, and she spent a painful year respecting his wishes. But that didn’t mean she agreed with him. Jerry glanced over, concern etched in his soft blue eyes. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I forgot this is his city. Are you going to be okay?” Cassidy nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She hoped. “I think I just need a nap before we land.” Jerry nodded and tucked his jacket around her. “You just relax and let Jerry take care of everything.” Cassidy swallowed the last of her champagne and handed Jerry the glass. “Thanks, you’re the best.” She leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek and then settled back and closed her eyes. She sighed audibly as she let herself relax degree by degree. Then suddenly, she sensed him. Zach’s proximity slammed into her like a fist. Her eyes flew open and she would’ve jumped up from her seat except for the firmly fastened seat-belt around her waist. “Cassidy?” Jerry pushed a wayward piece of hair from her face. “What’s wrong, love?” “I can feel him.” Her words came out in a whisper. Jerry spent too much time around Cassidy over the past year to doubt her abilities. “Is he on the plane?” Cassidy concentrated and ensured her shields were firmly in place and her obstinate mind hadn’t broken her promise to Zach. She refocused on Jerry. “No. But I’ll bet we’ve just come into range of each other. We haven’t been this close together since I was learning to use my gifts.” She easily read Jerry’s concern that she would cancel the booking in Washington. He’d worked tirelessly to get her this far, and having the President and several other important political figures attend

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her concert on opening night could only be a feather in both of their career caps. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to cancel. We’ve both worked too hard for this. If he can’t take the heat, then he can leave. I’m here for the duration.” Cassidy set her jaw stubbornly and firmed up her shields another notch. This was your choice, Special Agent Zachary Hatcher, so let’s see how you live with it. “What if he comes to his senses and tries to see you?” Jerry asked. “He’s been steadfast about staying away from me this long, I can’t see why suddenly he’d change his mind. But if he does, I’ll be gracious and friendly and totally platonic.” Although her heart still expected him to show up at her stage door one night, her mind had given up on the idea. “He made his choice, and I’ve moved on.” She hoped she said it convincingly, but one glance at Jerry’s raised eyebrow made her doubt. “Whatever you say, love. You’re the boss.” ***** Zach bolted awake in bed and leaned back against the headboard, his Glock 9mm already in his hands and in firing position. He sighted down the gun around his dark bedroom, but couldn’t figure out what woke him. He didn’t sense anyone in his apartment and there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger, so he slowly lowered the gun and placed it back under his pillow. What the hell is happening to me? He wearily swung his feet onto the floor and took a moment to scrub his hands over his face. Then he sensed it again—a strong presence he hadn’t felt in a year. His head whipped up and he closed his eyes and concentrated. Careful not to reach out—he lost that right when he walked away—he just concentrated on feeling her again. Her presence was unique—one he could never forget, but it had grown stronger, more confident since he last sensed it. The feel of her was indelibly carved into his mind and he reveled in it like another man might a piece of clothing with a woman’s perfume. She must be in DC for me to feel her so strongly. Her plane probably just landed, or got close enough where he could detect her aura. Kathy kept in touch with him over the last year since he’d given her some tips on how to come to terms with her new powers, but had refused to tell Zach anything whenever he asked—including how she was and if she was happy. Her answer had always been the same. “If you want to know so badly, go find out for yourself. And if you’re too damn stubborn to do that, then just leave it be.”

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He’d asked Anderson as well, since he and Kathy talked regularly. He told him Cassidy was happy and seeing someone named Bob, she and Kathy met in Paris a few years earlier. Someone who would always be there for Cassidy whenever she needed him…unlike himself. Someone who met all Cassidy’s needs…. Zach still remembered the tightening in his guts when Anderson made sure he knew exactly what he meant by “needs.” Zach ground his teeth in frustration at the thought of another man ever laying his hands on Cassidy. He opened his eyes and noticed the moonlight spilling in through the blinds, casting pale stripes over his bedspread. His breath caught in his throat—the sight brought back vivid memories of the early morning he and Cassidy spent in bed during the Reaper ordeal. The mental memory was so vivid he could still feel Cassidy’s silky skin under his hands and smell the fragrance of her hair. Shaking his head, he scolded himself. “Get a grip, Hatcher. You walked away. It’s done.” He’d spent an entire year putting walls around the emotions and needs associated with Cassidy. One brush of her presence and it all came rushing back. If someone asked him yesterday, he would have insisted he was over her. She was nothing but a bittersweet memory from a relationship he clearly screwed up. But now he couldn’t even lie to himself anymore. He spent a moment trying to remember all the reasons he’d been so sure he had to leave her, but his mind remained stubbornly blank. He filled the time since he left her with work and obligations. He took over Dix’s position and wanted to serve his friend’s memory by doing a damn good job. Dix wouldn’t have accepted anything less. But he knew he’d buried himself in work to keep thoughts of Cassidy at bay. He also knew it never worked. And with every professional goal he accomplished, it only served to highlight the emptiness which pervaded the rest of his life. He stood and shuffled into the kitchen to make some coffee, to try to distract himself from thoughts of her. But her presence kept tickling at the edges of his consciousness. He couldn’t even concentrate and block it out—the physical bond between their minds was too strong to break apart. He sighed and began to measure coffee grounds into the pot. “You know why she’s here, and it’s not for you.” The Washington Post carried an article a few weeks ago advising she would be performing at the Lisner Auditorium beginning tonight. Agent Gerald dropped the paper on his desk after circling the article in red pen. Zach stuffed it in his briefcase and pretended nonchalance, but at the first opportunity, found an excuse to run down to his car where he was free to memorize every word. It said she played her own

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music and was a world-wide performing and recording success. Pride and happiness touched him for the first time in a year when he gazed at her picture next to the article. They’d captured her while she played, and even from the grainy picture he could see the emotion she poured into every note. Still breathtakingly beautiful, she carried some sadness around the eyes even newsprint couldn’t hide. Familiar guilt rose up inside him and he ruthlessly shoved it aside and turned on the coffee pot. He put the sadness in her eyes, but rationalized repeatedly, convincing himself it was for the best. This proved it again—didn’t it? Wasn’t she thriving and happy without him? Doing what she’d always dreamed of? He kept his promise of never contacting her or even reaching out for her—hadn’t he? “And so did she,” he reminded himself brutally. “She kept it too damn well.” Didn’t you ask her to do just that? Rage, sadness, loss and the hole in is soul which yawned empty since he walked away from her, rose up to swallow him and he hurtled his glass coffee mug across the room to shatter against the far wall. “Yes! God damn it, yes….” He slid down the cabinets to sit on the floor holding his head in his hands and began to sob as he realized he’d hit bottom. “I asked her, and damn her—she didn’t love me enough to break her promise.” ***** Zach took a deep breath and walked through the front doors of Lisner Auditorium. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his jacket and pulled against the restrictive collar of his tux. “What the hell am I doing here?” He’d almost talked himself out of coming dozens of times throughout the day. In fact, he’d waited so long to decide, he just paid some very happy patron in the parking lot five hundred dollars for a seventy-five dollar ticket. The words Dix said to him a year ago came back to him. “God only gives you so many chances to recognize you’re being a dumb ass before he gives his gifts to someone else.” God hadn’t taken his gift back—Zach had shoved it away. He really wasn’t sure what he planned to do, or even if she’d see him if he was brave enough to try. But he knew he’d regret not trying until the day he died. So, here he was, walking blindly into her life and hoping she didn’t kick him out, or worse, not even realize he was here. After navigating the metal detectors and flashing his badge and two forms of ID to the secret service, he was allowed through with his Glock 9mm still in his shoulder holster.

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For some reason its comforting weight against his side gave him confidence. Because at this moment, he’d rather face one hundred heavily armed terrorists than one beautiful cellist with the power to crush his heart to dust. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward toward the interior doors which led into the auditorium. It brought back memories of another auditorium from what seemed like a lifetime ago, where she’d been in danger. He still remembered the relief and surprise that flooded her face when she saw him behind the Reaper. “I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to wait for intermission.” An elderly woman dressed in an usher’s uniform broke him away from his memories. “There’s a lounge around the side if you’d like to wait.” She indicated the direction of the lounge with her usher’s flashlight. Zach held up his badge and brushed by the startled woman. At least someone tonight was impressed by his ID. The music poured over him. It pulled him forward and he opened himself to the psychic emotions Cassidy laced into every note. He stopped halfway up the aisle and stood staring at her on stage. She wore simple black slacks and a clingy top of forest green which he knew would bring out the flecks in her eyes. Her cello, cradled between her legs and in her arms like a lover, seemed to vibrate with every movement. She held the bow tenderly, but commanded such volume and feeling he knew she employed significant strength to achieve it. The waterfall of auburn curls flowed around her face making her look like a fairy come to life. Her eyes opened and suddenly her gaze captured his. No flicker of recognition or even surprise marred the deep hazel depths. But the music continued to swell around them. Zach broke himself away from the unnerving gaze and continued to his seat to listen to the rest of the concert. Several times, he promised himself he would leave and never bother her again. But then her music would catch him and he’d be rooted to his chair. He felt the love, the loss and the regret within each ripe note she played. They were feelings he’d struggled with for an entire year and here she let them flow out of her like water. Was she as lost as he? And would he ever forgive himself if he didn’t at least find out? Zach sat riveted until the final note rang through the auditorium. He could tell by the breathless pause before the ear-splitting applause that the rest of the audience was as emotionally exhausted as he. Cassidy’s music would never let someone sit idly by and listen, it grabbed you by the throat and demanded you experience each nuance. Very much like its maker.

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Before Zach realized it, he navigated through the crowds to the stage door. He stood in a long line consisting mostly of politicians and celebrities. Several times, he was asked for credentials and he flashed his badge. After coming this far, he would see this through to the end. All right God, if you want me to quit being a dumb ass and try for that gift again, you’re going to have to help me out a little here. Zach laughed at himself. “Talking to deities, well, I guess it’s better than talking to yourself…,” The line moved forward And he found himself looking up into the amused eyes of a man who looked like he’d stepped off a GQ magazine cover. Zach usually had the advantage of height, but this man had a good five inches on him. “Can I tell Miss James who wishes to meet her?” Zach cleared his throat. “An old friend from Arizona.” “And would this old friend have a name?” persisted GQ man. “Special Agent Zachary Hatcher, FBI.” Zach flashed the badge as he spoke and held his breath while GQ examined it thoroughly. It’s a real badge idiot, what are you worried about, it’s not like they’ll find it’s fake if they check? A trickle of sweat rolled down his back anyway. GQ man finally finished examining the badge and looked skeptically down at Zach. “You’re the one who asked her to walk away, aren’t you?” “And who are you?” Zach asked defensively. “I’m Bob.” Zach’s veins turned to ice, and he studied the man through jealous eyes. But he slammed his shields in place before he picked up pictures of Cassidy and Bob together from his mind. This is the man Anderson mentioned—the man who’s always there for Cassidy, and…and takes care of all her needs. Zach fought back a wave of rage and tried to feel grateful that someone had been there for Cassidy when he hadn’t, but the haze of jealousy tinged his focus. “Yes, I was the idiot who let her go.” He ground out through gritted teeth. “Are you going to let me see her, or not?” Even through his shields, protective vibes for Cassidy radiated from the man. But only out of respect for her did he resist delving into Bob’s mind to find all the gory details of their relationship. Bob leaned down so he was nose to nose with Zach. “I’ll leave it up to her. But if you hurt her in any way, I’ll take you apart piece by piece. And I don’t care what kind of badge you’re flashing.”

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Bob cocked his eyebrow at Zach. “Understood?” Zach bit back a sarcastic and very territorial comment. He had no right to any kind of territorial display with Cassidy. It had been his decision to let her go, and he would respect it. But thoughts of Bob touching Cassidy intimately rose up before him and made his blood boil. A few minutes later, Bob opened the door and motioned him inside. “Remember what I told you.” ***** Cassidy turned as she sensed Zach step inside the small dressing room. She’d been fighting conflicting feelings of elation and confusion since her long ago déjà vu assaulted her when she saw Zach step into the auditorium. Zach told her a significant event triggered these psychic déjà vu’s. A significantly good event, she hoped. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him standing before her. His dark, chiseled features brought back memories of what it felt like to touch him…and be touched by him. Being this close to him felt like a physical blow. Added to the psychic energy buzzing around the room, and she felt almost claustrophobic. His deep golden gaze met hers, and instantly she reined in her power, which struggled to touch his mind. From the look on Zach’s face, he’d just won a similar struggle. A small sliver of triumph flowed through her, immediately followed by guilt. So…maybe he suffered for his poor choices as well. Zach stood rooted to the spot, staring at her as if he were a dying man in need of a drink…and she was the water. Her skin began to prickle under his unswerving gaze. After a long, uncomfortable pause, Cassidy stepped forward. “Zach.” She nodded, but refrained from holding out her hand. If she touched him now, she might never let go. “How have you been?” Zach opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Good. You?” “Good.” Miserable. Horrible. Lonely. He cleared his throat again and finally lowered his gaze to scan the room. This was the Zach she remembered—always alert. His gaze inched up to capture hers again. “I can see you’re doing well. I’m happy for you, and the concert was amazing.” Cassidy pierced him with a sharp look, trying to see what lay behind the façade of his shields and serene expression. “The tour is going very well, thanks to my agent. I couldn’t have done all this

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without him.” Zach gritted his teeth. “Yes. Bob and I met.” He said the name distastefully, like he’d bitten into something rotten. Cassidy’s brow furrowed. Why all the open animosity against Bob? “I take it you and Bob didn’t get along too well?” She could see the intense emotions spilling off Zach even through his fully erect shields. “No, not at all. I hope he took good care of all your…needs.” Zach’s eyes smoldered with barely suppressed anger. Cassidy’s brow furrowed again. Why would Zach be so jealous over Bob? Did Bob say something to him outside? “Yes…,”she answered carefully. “Bob seems to know whatever I need before I do. He’s a God-send.” At Zach’s scowl, the psychic tension in the room ratcheted up to an uncomfortable level. “I’m sorry if Bob came off as a little over-protective, he….” Zach held up a hand to stop her. “I don’t want to hear anymore about Bob.” Zach closed his eyes and seemed to be struggling to maintain control. Then all at once, anger seemed to drain out of his face to be replaced by a weariness that wrenched her heart. “I’m sorry, Cass. I don’t know why I came here.” He ran his hands through his hair in a gesture she remembered well. “I know you’ve gone on with your life, and I have no right to come in here and stir things up.” Cassidy wasn’t sure what to think. Zach, suddenly clearly agitated again, paced around the small room, with long strides and large arm gestures. He turned back to her. “I’m trying very hard to be happy for you and Bob, because I truly want you to be happy. But it’s ripping me apart.” Cassidy mouth dropped open and she made a conscious effort to close it. “Me and Bob?” she asked incredulously. “Why would you think there’s anything between Bob and I?” Her comment seemed only to enrage Zach further. “So he’s just your boy-toy? You aren’t even in love with him? My God, Cass, I don’t even know you anymore.” Cassidy’s temper sparked in return. “Who the hell do you think you are? Coming in here accusing me of stabling boy-toys when you’ve wanted no part of my life since I walked out of your hospital room!” The door burst open and Bob and Jerry stormed into the room looking ready to murder Zach. “I told you not to upset her, FBI boy.” Bob growled at Zach and plowed an index finger into his

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chest. “Stop!” Cassidy shouted. Everyone froze and she took a deep breath before continuing. “I think we are all acting under some very deep miscommunications here. Let’s take a step back and start over.” Cassidy looked over at Zach. “Zach Hatcher, this is my agent Jerry and his life partner, Bob.” Conflicting emotions flowed across Zach’s face and she almost laughed when she saw understanding dawn. Zach turned toward her. “So, you’re not with Bob?” Cassidy sighed. Zach hadn’t been kidding when he said people with psychic powers had just as many misunderstandings as non-psychic people. “No, I’m not exactly his type. Now where did you get the idea that I was?” Zach suddenly looked sheepish. “I should’ve known Anderson was messing with me.” He turned to Bob and offered his hand. “I’m very sorry. I let my jealousy get the better of me. And I’ve behaved badly, I hope you’ll forgive me.” Bob shook Zach’s hand warily. Cassidy mulled over the events of the last few minutes and when Anderson’s name was added to the mix, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. “Wait.” She held up both hands, palm out. “Did Anderson and Kathy tell you the only man I was seeing now is ‘BOB’ and he’s the guy who’s meeting all my ‘needs’?” She emphasized the last making quotation marks in the air using the first two fingers of each hand. “Yes.” Zach looked at her as if waiting for her to pull another Bob out of the woodwork somewhere. “And why are you saying Bob like that?” A laugh burst out of Cassidy’s throat before she could stop it. “Jerry and Bob—out,” she ordered through a stream of laughter-induced tears. “Zach, let’s do what we should’ve done at the outset.” Cassidy lowered her shields and held her power in check waiting for Zach’s decision. After such a long moment, she thought he would decline, Zach dropped his shields and their power converged. Everything she’d dreamed about over the last year resided inside Zach’s mind. Her heart felt about to burst as happiness warmed her. Zach finally realized life with them apart wasn’t a life he wanted to live. She laughed again as soon as Zach discovered BOB’s true identity inside her mind. “I was jealous of a blue gel vibrator?” Zach demanded incredulously. “Wait ‘till I get a hold of Anderson and Kathy.” A slow smile softened his features.

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“Yes, you were. And it’s pretty adorable.” Cassidy grabbed both of Zach’s hands in hers. “You might as well throw ‘BOB’ in the trash,” Zach said, mimicking her quotation-marks-inthe-air gesture. “I plan on keeping you so busy you’ll never need him again.” “Hey, now. I’ve known BOB longer than you!” Zach silenced her with a kiss. Their powers melded even tighter and the emotions of an entire year flowed between them, healing old wounds and answering old questions. An eternity later, Zach pulled gently away from her and looked down into her eyes. “Cassidy, I’ve been so stupid. I love you and I don’t want to live another second without you in my life, or I’ll just be proving Dix right—that I’m a dumb ass.” Cassidy smiled through her tears. It seemed right somehow that Dix be a part of this. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you to admit that.” Zach sighed as she felt his relief through their bond that she hadn’t turned him away. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his Grandmother’s ring. Cassidy gasped as she read the full impact of the gesture from his mind. “Cassidy, my Grandmother told me to give this ring to my true love. And now that I’ve found you, I humbly ask you to wear it.” He slipped the ring onto her finger and leaned his forehead against hers. “And to consider marrying me. I’ve tried living without you and I never want to again. My life is empty without you.” Hot tears flowed freely down her face as Zach pulled back to look into her eyes. He took his hand in hers and the psychic energy from the ring flowed into both of them, bringing remnants of Zach’s Grandmother…and of Dix. “Well, what are you two waiting for?” a faint voice demanded. Cassidy smiled. From the look on Zach’s face—he’d recognized the voice too. “I’m not waiting any longer, Dix.” Aloud, Cassidy said, “Zach, I’d say we could get married now, but Kathy would never forgive us.” “I’m on my way!” came Kathy’s voice inside their heads.

THE END